Writers Block
by SophInvaders
Summary: Of course, Lucy would always get dragged in to Levy's crazy plans. But what happens when Levy goes one step to far in the crazy department with a certain pink haired guy who walks back in to everyone's lives?
1. Chapter 1

She couldn't believe it. How on earth did she get dragged in to this?

The smell of sweat burning her nostrils as she watched as the other members of the class began to stretch and pose, how on earth did these people get so flexible? She could of swore she heard someone break something in their body by the loud sound of cracking.

All Lucy wanted to do this weekend was to sit at home in her pyjamas with a large amount of junk food and binge watch a lot of tv series on her tv.

Lucy sighed, she was always roped in to being there for her short blue haired friend when it came to men, but this was going a little too far. Levy, who was Lucy's best friend had stumbled upon the gym one afternoon when coming home from work and met a guy who looked like something out of a horror film - which is how Lucy has pictured this guy after Levy had pointed him out to her.

He looked nothing like a gym trainer, in fact he looked like he belonged in a heavy metal band with the amount of piercings he had lanced on his body.

She never did understand her best friends' choice in men.

* * *

"You didn't enjoy yourself did you?" Levy asked, as the class finished and people started to vacate the room which now smelt of unhygienic people, Lucy looked at her with an eyebrow raised

"You made me come to this class so you could spot that guy and guess what? We didn't see him and I feel like my body is now jelly - how am I suppose to walk home now?"

The blue haired girl held a giggle back from her best friend.

"But we did get to exercise,"

"That does nothing for me right now. The only exercise I do on the weekends is reaching for the next tub of ice cream…"

"My point exactly."

Lucy sighed, Levy was right. She always was. And she would never admit that she did enjoy the work out, not one bit.

"How about, as a thank you we go over to Mira's bar and grab some drinks in?" Lucy looked down at her attire, black leggings and a baggy grey top which now held sweat patches under her arms. What a look.

"Like this?!"

"It's not like we're going to bump in to anyone we know."

* * *

Lucy couldn't believe it, this had to be some sort of nightmare. Inside Mira's bar, which held so many people that both Levy and Lucy grew up with and knew so very well were all in one place.

She was mortified, not only did she look a mess but she probably smelt like one too!

"I can't believe you." Lucy spoke harshly, her eye twitching at the sight behold her.

"I didn't know, I promise!" The little blue girl spoke.

"Lucy! Levy! What a..uh…what happened?" Mira, who was normally a bubbly girl with a smile that could kill if you ever annoyed her saw the two girls and saw the state they were in.

"Yoga, that's what." Lucy replied dryly as she took a seat at the front of the bar and slouching over said bar. Levy still held a smile on her face at her best friend.

"Yoga? Oh Levy's hot piece of ass right?" she looked towards said girl who held a large blush and her smile gone.

"I have no idea what he looks like, but if that's the description we are going with then I'm sure that's the guy." Lucy laughed, thankful that the tables had turned from her misery to Levy's mystery man.

"Lucy!" Levy shouted "don't say such things! He's lovely and caring and —"

"Looks like he could murder you." Lucy finished, smiling. Levy pouted.

"Hello ladies, didn't think you two would be in here this early?" Lucy and Levy turned around and saw where the voice came from, none other than Gray Fullbuster.

Gray was a long time friend of both girls and both Gray and Lucy had shared multiple classes when they were at school years ago. Now that the school group had reached in to their late twenties they had all 'developed' nicely. Gary worked at the gym that Levy went to often in hopes of seeing her 'crush' and Lucy was an author; in the middle of her 'best seller'.

"Fancy seeing you here," Lucy smiled; it had been hard to catch a glimpse of Gray since getting his role at the gym, that and the fact a certain blue haired woman was constantly near him, not that that had ever changed from school, Gray's 'one true love' as Lucy and Levy had called her was always close by.

"I could say the same. Levy I understand. But you Lucy, I thought you would be tucked away from social things until your book was done" he teased.

"See Levy, at least Gray knows what I should be doing. Not man hunting with you at the gym."

"Wait, you were at the gym?" There was a look on his face which looked as if he was holding back a snigger from the girls,

Levy nodded, "we were indeed, we did a yoga class."

That was all Gray needed before he couldn't hold his laughter back anymore and allowed it to fall from his mouth. Lucy's eye twitched once more. Her friends were stupid, so stupid.

"Usual Gray?" Mira asked, bringing the subject away from Lucy, Gray stopped shaking with laughter and nodded,

"Of course. I'm going to need something to deal with Gajeel moping around the gym." Mira and Lucy smirked and then looked over to a now blushing Levy

"Gajeel you say?" a plan forming in Lucy's mind, now it was time to get her own back for the gym class which was pointless in her opinion, although that pain in her left shoulder was feeling much less dominate right now…

"Gray, what's Gajeel's favourite snack or drink? I'm sure he needs something whilst having to deal with you."

"Black coffee and some form of sweet treat; actually he'll eat anything really. That man can pack away that food." Gary replied "and hey! If it's anything thing it's me having to deal with him."

Lucy laughed, "well, Mira you heard the man, black coffee and an assortment of sweet treats for Gajeel,"

"I don't understand why you want to know though, I'm sure it was Levy who has the hots for him?" This caused Levy to once again flush red only after getting rid of her last outbreak of red.

"Oh I know she does, which is why she's buying him lunch."

"What?!" Gary and Levy both replied, Gray not even making it to one sip from his drink before spilling on the floor and Levy almost dropping hers.

"If we get these for Gajeel he will obviously want to see Levy, which he will then say thank you for the lunch and offer to repay her back." Lucy replied smirking. Sometimes she came up with the best ideas when it came to setting people up, maybe she was hanging around the matchmaker queen Mira too much?

"That sounds like an adorable plan," Mira replied, always coming in to the conversation at the perfect time. Poor Levy. There was no helping her now knowing that Mira approved of the plan.

"Well, if you think it will work, sure." Gary replied, not one to upset Mira let alone Lucy with a plan. He looked over to Levy with an apologetic look, feeling sorry for the little blue haired girl.

* * *

"Hey Gajeel, got you some lunch!" Gary shouted in the office where said guy was hunched over his desk filling out spreadsheets and time tables.

"Huh?" Gajeel mumbled out and looking up to his co-worker.

"Jesus crist, are you deaf as well as dumb now? I said you've got lunch," Gray replied, although the look he received back from Gajeel told him otherwise to not call him stupid again.

"But I didn't ask for anything? Is this poisoned?" he replied, sniffing to where the bag was placed.

"No. There is an assortment of treats in there though, and a black coffee…" That was all Gajeel needed before tucking in to a muffin and gaining crumbs all over his work.

"You can thank Levy for that."

Gajeel stopped mid mouthful and looked over to Gray, an eyebrow raised. Who on earth was this 'Levy'?

"I can see from your face you have no idea who I'm on about."

Gajeel grumbled back towards Gray, now choosing to ignore his friend and carry on with work, after all he was busy today. It wasn't like Gray was going to offer to do this work anytime soon.

"Levy is the blue haired girl, she often comes in and does a yoga class…." Gary brought his arm to the height of her "this high…"

"Not ringing any bells." Gary sighed, Lucy's plan was not going to be working any time soon.

* * *

Lucy sat at her desk that Wednesday morning. Boredom was leaking from her as she struggled to write anymore on her novel, which also didn't help the fact her best friend had been pestering her about Gajeel and the plan that according to Levy 'was terrible'. Which by now was sounding more and more stupid as Gajeel had not even given a message to Gray to say thanks, not even a walk through the bar doors to find Levy. Nothing.

Well, at least Gray had told Levy the treats went down well, a treat. That was something.

Sighing once again for what felt the millionth time Lucy moved back from her seat at her desk and walked over to the large window which over looked Magnolia.

It was days like these where Lucy could happily sit down in the window seat in her bedroom and look out towards her beautiful city. Okay, so today was miserable and you could hardly see the the blossom trees in bloom, but it was still better than having writers block at your desk.

Lucy had always loved Magnolia, ever since she moved to the place when she was in secondary school and meeting Levy and the rest of the gang; she had never felt so welcomed in all her life. And then moving close to her best friend was just as amazing in her twenties.

Of course Lucy had never been so lucky in life before she moved to Magnolia, bad luck had always decided to tag along and raise its ugly head every now and again. Which was why she decided to take one day at time to overcome the difficult life she experienced with loosing both her parents.

 _You'll never guess who I just bumped in to!_

Lucy's phone began to buzz on her desk, bringing Lucy out of her daydream. Looking over to the text that appeared Lucy raised an eyebrow. How was she suppose to know when the text was so bleak in ideas?

 _I give up_

Lucy knew it was impossible for her friends to keep a secret, Lucy remembered Erza once describing in detail about their shopping trip for a birthday present for Mira and Lucy could have passed out there and then when Mira was present.

Although there was always two people Lucy could make sure her secrets stayed secrets. Levy and Natsu. Of course, she hadn't had much luck with Natsu since he disappeared with out a trace of goodbye to anyone - just a text message when he got to the airport saying he was off for a while to travel the world.

Of course he was.

"Stupid Natsu. Being a total jerk and not telling anyone his plans." She muttered. Was it that hard to tell your best friend that you were going to travel the world for a little bit? That was what stung Lucy the most, the fact he never told her anything and just got on the plane and flew off to where ever he wanted with out a care or thought about the people he left behind confused and hurting.

 _I'll give you a clue…pink_

Bringing herself back from the rant inside her head of how stupid Natsu was, Lucy didn't expect to read that text from Levy. And more to the point what was he doing back?

* * *

It seemed Lucy wasn't the only person who was curious as to why Natsu was back. Was he bored of travelling? Did he run out of money? Was he in trouble? Probably.

Too many thoughts crashed through her brain as she walked through the doors to Mira's bar and was greeted with the smell of ash and smoke. An all too familiar smell to her nose; and it belonged to one person she never thought she would ever see again.

"Natsu."


	2. Chapter 2

"Natsu."

The bar had all of a sudden become quiet and still from her presents. Although the looks some of her friends were giving her were a dead give away that the pink haired idiot was back in town.

Said idiot was still talking to Grey when he gave a look towards her, one of which looked apologetic; did he know Natsu was coming back? Either way Lucy was just going to ignore him until he spoke to her, it looked like he was in the middle of telling one of the many stories of his travels anyway. Drink was going to be needed; a large one at that if she was going to be able to be in the same room as him.

"I thought you would be pleased to see him back?" Mira whispered as she passed a large glass of vodka and orange to the blonde, who happily took it in to her hands.

"I am. Can you not tell?" She replied, smiling, hoping the platinum haired girl would not notice how put on it was.

"I know you're lying. You never really did say how you felt when he left," Lucy sighed, Mira was too good at her job of knowing her friends too well.

"It's not like he gave me a choice was it? Or more to the point, he didn't give anyone a shot at telling him anything. He was gone by the time we all had the message."

Mira sighed and nodded in agreement. It was Natsu; the guy who hardly got conversations about love or in fact never really showed much of an interest in them, and would order a whisky and coke, always. The guy never thought at all. How he got through university and school was a mystery to a lot of their friends.

But it was the friendship he shared with Lucy that had bewildered everyone. She was smart, top of the class in subjects and everyone loved her; well they loved Natsu too but Lucy was kind and caring and would never hurt a fly. Unlike their pink haired friend who would start fights - mostly with Grey over nothing. But he was loyal to his friends, always, and never broke or went back on a promise.

* * *

Natsu and Lucy were best friends, even a stranger could tell that they meant the world to one another, Natsu, Lucy, Grey and Erza were the four best friends and such a tight knit group it was impossible to picture them with out having the others near by. But everyone could see the damage that Natsu's leaving had done; it broke the young blonde's heart. The fact he never even spoke about it to anyone, not even Lucy was a shock to everyone. And that hurt Lucy the most.

* * *

"Well, maybe you could talk to him about it now?"

"I doubt it Mira," Lucy sighed "In all honesty I just came here to see if it was true. I would rather be back home reading."

Mira gave a small smile back to the blonde, understanding her hurt right now. And the fact she was still nursing the drink she had been given and not touched a drop.

"Okay, if you're sure —"

"Sure on what?" Both girls froze, one girl more than the other was more than surprised to hear that voice so close to her. Mira quickly got over her shock and gave off a smile that Lucy knew she was dead.

"Well, Lucy here was just saying how she wasn't really feeling up to staying here and was about to make her way back home." Lucy could have murdered Mira right there and then, but she didn't have the heart to, nor a weapon…

Natsu looked over to Lucy, he had to admit those years of travelling had really changed her; her blonde hair was now a little longer, and a womanly figure had taken shape on her body. But her brown chocolate, tempting eyes had never changed. When did she become this beautiful?

"Really Luce? You're leaving already?"

She winced at the nickname he had always called her, "yeah, call it an early night. I've been so busy lately that it's all caught up on me…"

Now, Natsu may have always been stupid and have the attention span of a fly at school, even outside of school... But looking at Lucy and knowing her so well he could see straight through that lie. He was sure she was hiding something from him, and he was more than sure there was something in her eyes, an emotion he couldn't place.

"But I haven't got round to saying hi to you yet!" The inner child was leaking out through him, and Lucy had to hold back a smile. It seemed he hadn't changed that much then.

"Well, we can meet up at some point if you want to. Everyone's here for you so you may as well hang with them for now," she blinked a few times at the end of her words. It sounded so harsh towards her poor dense friend.

"Sure Luce…"

* * *

She felt bad. The look Natsu gave her was heart breaking to her and made her feel a thousand times worse than what she already did. What made it worse was the look Mira gave after he had walked back to her friends. She knew Mira had heard every word said and that didn't help the matter anymore than what it was.

Once setting her keys on the side of her desk, Lucy made her way in to her bedroom; the sun had already set and the room was already filling with the moonlight. Already Lucy's phone had begun to flash with messages from Levy asking if she was okay. Which meant that soon enough there would be more than enough texts to freeze her phone from the other girls, meaning Mira had told the girls what happened.

Great.

Deciding enough was enough of the day and wanting it to be another day where she could focus on never leaving the comfort of her room, Lucy went under the covers of her duvet and slept, forcing back the tears.

Natsu was back and things were going to become a lot more crazy.


	3. Chapter 3

_Hello to everyone who has read and left messages for me to read!_

 _I want to thank you all for reading it so far! And to answer some of you back - yes I've noticed some of the mistakes made haha! Especially Gray's name which my computer loves to change to the UK spelling 'grey' or calling him 'Gary'._

 _I have loved every message and I'm so pleased you are all enjoying it so far! I promise there shall be a few lemons in it soon - a few more chapters to go before that though ;)_

* * *

Three weeks had passed since Lucy had seen Natsu and frankly she didn't know wether it was a blessing or not. Then again the blonde had been sheltered in her flat for the last three weeks writing page after page of her novel; it had finally taken its toll on her, and more to the point of Levy's who had been nagging Lucy to come out of her 'cave' and socialise.

Something Lucy was still up to doing, but was then interrupted by the thought of Erza knocking on her door and forcing her to come out.

Lucy shuddered; Erza had done that only twice in her life and both times Lucy had regretted being dragged out by the scarlet haired woman; mostly for the amount of drink that was thrown down her throat from the determined scarlet and Mira.

Coming out of that thought Lucy was interrupted by the sound of her front door, walking over to it, she was hoping for her sake that it wasn't Erza; taking a deep breath she opened the door and was greeted by the presents of Levy blinking at the sight of Lucy looking both panicked and thankful.

"Uh, you okay Lucy?"

Lucy mentally thanked Mavis that Levy was at her door and not Erza, or Natsu. There was so much to be thankful right now.

"I'm fine. What can I do for you?" Lucy asked as the bluenette walked in to the living area with her.

"Well, I was just wondering, how are you? It's been ages since I've seen you! And you've missed so many happy hours down at Mira's bar - Cana managed to almost drink the bar dry the other week!"

Lucy held a giggle back. She did miss her best friend too much, "I'm sure Mira had a backup stock - I swear she has something planned whenever Cana's in the bar…"

"That's probably a smart idea, but Cana is always at the bar"

Both girls laughed, it was needed in Lucy's books to be sociable, and what could be better then spending it in the company of Levy? It was always nice being in her company as they both loved the same things and there was the occasional time that they would spend the night at each others watching endless episodes of tv shows - mostly crime which Lucy found strangely weird about, as they both loved romance and reading about love in books but both binged watched so many crime shows they could probably solve so many murders.

It was always a plan b career if her novel did badly - having 'watched countless episodes of Law and Order' on her cv would count right?

"So, apart from hanging around in what I can guess is the fourth time of wearing your, uh, outfit, what have you been doing?"

Lucy looked at herself, okay so maybe it was the fifth day of wearing her extremely baggy white top and grey shorts with miss match socks. You have to be comfortable when writing a novel and that was exactly how she felt.

"What's the matter with this? It's comfortable and practical."

"How on earth is it practical?"

"I can sit down and write for hours in this - and sleep in it. I don't need to venture outside once."

Levy laughed; Lucy was always like that. If she didn't have to be somewhere then the lounge wear outfits came out - even at university Lucy had been known to pull all nighters in her 'scruffy' outfits and avoid meeting anyone in them.

"Okay, so I'm comfy in this. It's not like we plan on going outside."

"Well..you see.." Levy began to fidget in her seat, an eyebrow on Lucy's face was raised.

"You want to go out don't you."

Here comes the reason why Levy is _really_ here.

"It's just, Gajeel is maybe going to Mira's bar tonight, and I know you haven't been out in forever." Levy was holding her head down, so Lucy wouldn't be able to see the blush beginning to show, "but I thought if we went out there and had a few drinks we could have a good time and maybe, just maybe I could say hello to him…"

"So basically you're asking me to be your wing girl…"

"Mira's been doing new cocktails lately…" Lucy twitched, Levy knew how to get to her through drinking - it must have been the countless times she had been around Cana.

"Fine. I'll get dressed."

* * *

For a Saturday night in Mira's Lucy had found it oddly quiet; okay it was busy but it was a calm busy for a Saturday in the bar. Mira's was known for it's wild nights where after one of Mira's deadly shots you would never remember your night out, you were always guaranteed good time and it had been the watering hole for her and her friends since they were legal to touch the good stuff.

Lucy had spotted a few people that were familiar, such as Levy's old body guards as she liked to call them; Droy and Jet. They had a table near the back and were happily enjoying their conversation. Then there was Juvia, Erza and Cana sat at a table, Levy waved to them as both of them made their way over.

"Well, look who it is!" Lucy smiled as Cana welcomed her in a drunk embrace, some things never change.

"Yeah, sorry for being in hibernation for such a long time."

"Well you're here now, I suppose you know about Levy's plan?" Ezra smiled, causing Levy to blush

"The whole get drunk and talk to Gajeel? Yeah.."

Cana laughed, "Levy will only need the smell of alcohol to get her drunk, she's got such a weak tolerance to it!"

The girls giggled, apart from Levy, "I do not!"

Lucy laughed "Liar, drinking has never been a strong point for you. Do I need to remind you about the graduation party?"

Levy fell silent; there was no need to remember how much she had drank and how long it had taken for her to pass out and more to the point in to the bathroom where she had curled up on the toilet seat and used a roll of toilet paper as a pillow.

"Nice to see you Lucy," Mira smiled as she brought over a mixture of drinks, which Lucy could only imagine were deadly cocktails which would leave her wanting to die tomorrow morning from the hangover.

"Yes, Juvia thinks it's nice to see Lucy again after so long."

"It hasn't been that long!" The blonde cried

"Three weeks." The girls replied, serious expressions all clear on their faces; Lucy sighed once more.

Picking up one of the drinks, Lucy raised it in to the air, "fine, let's celebrate me being back in the social world then!"

* * *

She was right, Mira was a demon; and Cana was her second in command. It must have been the fourth drink that had got her to this state, or the third. Lucy was feeling awful and looking around her table the other girls were in the same shape as her.

Levy had her head on the table, mumbling how the room was spinning and how she was now never going to be able to talk to Gajeel. Ezra was telling everyone how she should be in charge and get a promotion at work, poor Juvia was weeping how Gray will not love her anymore because she was too drunk and Cana seemed the only one who was normal. Well, Cana was always drunk the majority of the time. That was the only thing normal on the table.

"Fucking hell, Mira what did you do to them?" Lucy turned around, almost falling off her chair at the speed she went and was greeted by three guys. It had to be the worst timing ever for Gajeel, Gray and Natsu to turn up and witness this chaotic mess of girls.

"They were only trying my new cocktail."

"They're pissed." Gajeel mumbled, Levy looked up and saw Gajeel and then instantly head butted the table while Erza patted her head, showing her sign of sympathy for the tiny bluenett. Lucy felt a little sorry for her friend, this was not how she wanted to be when she was meeting Gajeel.

"Gray knew he would come and see Juvia! Juvia is ashamed Gray has too see her like this!" At least Juvia had perked up however...

Gray sighed as he lifted the taller blue haired girl to her feet, "It's fine Juvia. Come on, lets get you home before you decide to have a sleep over in the bar."

"But Juvia would rather have a sleepover with Gray!" The faint tint of pink on Gray's cheeks did not go un-missed by a very drunk Lucy, who smirked at the scene in front of her.

"All my friends are wasted." Cana laughed as she threw her arms around Erza and Lucy, who almost fell from her chair.

"Yeah we can clearly see that. You didn't play any drinking games with them did you?" Gary asked, still holding on to Juvia.

Cana shook her head, "No, if anything we were celebrating." The guys looked at one another,

"Celebrating?" they asked, the girls all nodded in return,

"Yes. We were celebrating Lucy coming out." And that was the moment Lucy had watched three different reactions form on their faces. c

Confusion, happiness and perv.

"I was writing for the last three weeks in my home and got too far in to the writing zone," Lucy replied, standing up from her chair and instantly regretting her decision. "And now that you boys are here you've killed the buzz."

"Bravo Lucy!" Cana called, Erza smirked

"If anything, Mira's killed your livers." Gajeel muttered, "Come on Levy, lets get you home…" Gajeel said, pulling Levy over his shoulders and startling her.

"Put me down! I am not a rag doll!"

Lucy laughed, whilst Cana and Mira waved her off and Erza raised her fist cheering for her, whilst Juvia was gazing up at Gray the whole time.

"Well, we best make a move as well, other wise you're going to pass out on me and I don't think I can deal with carrying you all the way back home." Gary spoke, Juvia didn't need to be told twice, after all she was just pleased to be that close to her love.

"Come on Luce, I'll walk you back too." Lucy shuddered, she had completely forgot Natsu was still there.

"I'll be okay, I can get a taxi,"

Natsu raised an eyebrow, it was almost as if she was avoiding him.

"I insist."

"You really don't have too."

* * *

Cana and Erza watched the whole argument between the hot headed pink and the stubborn blonde. Their heads aching from both troubled humans arguing over going home. It had been common when they were in school that Natsu and Lucy would argue over Natsu being stupid and over protective; it wasn't that Lucy was incapable of walking herself home or getting in a taxi home but it was more Natsu being Natsu and making sure he got his friend home safely, Lucy had always loved it and loathed it at the same time.

"Natsu, for the last time, I will call a cab and I'll be fine. I'll even down several glasses of water to make sure I do don't die from my hangover in the morning…"

"At a girl! Predicting the hangover and preparing for it!" Cana spoke up, earning a glare from Lucy and a light hit from Erza who told her to shh.

"Lucy, for the love of Mavis will you just allow me to fucking walk you home?" Natsu had resorted to being demanding Natsu, and Lucy had to resist breaking out in to a smile at him.

"Fine," she sighed, causing Natsu to smirk, little wins like this made his day. Lucy was stubborn and somehow getting her to announce her defeat was always the best achievement; even more so than beating Gray at any thing.

"Good. Now come on." Lucy rolled her eyes as she followed the now over excited pink blur out of the bar.

* * *

She had regretted the last drink as she wobbled outside and in the blistering cold. When on earth did it get this cold?

Lucy sighed, why did Natsu have to insist walking her home? She was capable of making her own arrangements home. It wasn't that difficult to get a taxi this late in the night; looking at her watch she blinked a few times at the time. 3:54am. What on earth were in those cocktails?

"You alright Luce? You seem dazed or something." Nastu broke Lucy's panicked thoughts as she looked towards him, his onyx shaded eyes staring in to her brown. She swallowed hard.

"When did it get this late?" Was all she could say, Natsu raised an eyebrow at her.

"Luce, I know you're smart and all, but I think those drinks killed some of your brain cells."

"Shut up."

She heard Natsu chuckle to himself as he waited for her to catch up to him. "You know, all the times I was out in different towns and places, I missed this the most."

Lucy looked up to him, he had obviously grown up a little bit from the travels. Natsu was a tall guy anyway and would always moan at Lucy that when ever she wore high shoes he would feel intimidated by the fact she was now the same height of him. But the travelling and time away from everyone had managed to somehow allow him to grow a little.

"Walking in the cold?"

Another chuckle escaped his lips, "No silly. I missed being in your company. I missed everyone." She had to admit, she missed being in his company to.

That was all Lucy needed to dive in to the subject she had been holding off since the day he arrived back.

"Why did you leave?" It was quiet and she was sure Natsu must have heard her because he stopped walking for a moment.

It was a subject she didn't want to know about but at the same time, curiosity was killing her from not knowing.

"I wanted to travel; to be away from everything here. After uni I had no idea what life was going to be like. I panicked and bought a one way ticket to where ever. I never really thought about my actions until I was at the airport."

"That was a given." Lucy mumbled, refusing to look up to him as he spoke.

"I was scared that everyone was going to go off and leave me behind in the dust. Everyone knew what they wanted to do and I was left with no knowledge of what path I wanted to take. Gray was always going to be in sports, wether it was training or competing and we all knew Levy was going to be owning her own bookstore. Hell, Luce you writing your own book was a given. But me? I had no idea and I doubt any of you knew either…"

Lucy held her tongue back, her words were not needed she knew full well when Natsu was in mid thought of ranting he needed to get it all out of his system. So instead she waited.

"But travelling, it seemed like the best idea, I know it sounds so stupid but it was amazing Luce! There was so much food! All of it was amazing - and the people were good too, but there were times where I missed you, Gray and Erza and wondered what you guys would be up to and that somehow gave me time to really think about what I want to do."

"And what is that Natsu?" Lucy asked, curiosity getting the better of her and she mentally scolded herself for asking the question.

"I still don't know." Natsu grinned, rubbing his hand through his hair and chuckling. Lucy rolled her eyes, same Natsu even after travelling for years, he was still the same old Natsu.

* * *

Lucy was thankful she had made it to her flat, or more to the point she was thankful she could get in to her warm pjs and tuck herself in bed and just forget ever talking to Natsu. Bringing up the subject of him leaving brought back emotions and feelings she wanted to forget; and keeping them in check was beginning to crumble right in front of her as Natsu walked her all the way to her door.

"Hey Luce," Natsu spoke as she pushed her keys in to the lock and opened the door an inch,

"Yes Natsu?"

"I'm sorry," he replied, and he sincerely meant it as he walked up to her and hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head before he said goodbye and walked down the hall way towards the exit leaving a shocked and an almost emotional wreck of a blonde.

If there was one thing Natsu Dragneel was good at, it was pulling the emotions out of Lucy.


	4. Chapter 4

**I would just like to say a huge thank you to those who have left comments and favoured this so far, it means so much to me!**

 **I'm also sorry this is a little late! But I was celebrating my 25th birthday on the 5th and was stupidly busy**

* * *

It was early Friday morning when Lucy awoke from her slumber; since her friends had all agreed that Lucy coming out from her den of work was in fact another way that they could all become drunk fools. The drink had finally caught up with the blonde; who was now cradling a hangover like no other.

"I hate all my friends." She mumbled to her reflection as she waited for the shower to become a burning liquid to wash the previous nights regret.

It was more Cana and Erza's doing for the heavily amount of drink involved with that then escalating to a tedious hangover that lingered through out the day and caused Lucy to fall back in her work; which in some ways caused Lucy to feel like pulling another few weeks on it; but then it would become a vicious circle of work then hangovers.

Shaking the silly thought from her head, Lucy stepped in to the shower, she could always take her work to the coffee shop just down the road; or sit with Levy and finish writing a few chapters…

That counted as socialising right?

* * *

Levy's bookshop always brought comfort to Lucy, no matter what mood the smell of the old books and new always brought a calming feeling to the blonde. It was also a blessing that Levy would allow her to sit out the back and type away on her laptop whilst she happily served customers and kept her head in-between books; although she knew Levy was desperate to catch a glimpse of her novel.

"Thank you so much for letting me crash here for a bit. I just needed a new scene if that makes sense?"

"Of course, you know you are welcome to be here. Just as long as you sign my copy of your book when it's published," the bluenette winked causing Lucy to laugh.

"Of course, who else is going to give me five stars and an amazing review on Amazon?"

Both girls began to laugh before the door to the shop rang indicating more customers.

"Duty calls!" Levy laughed as she made her way back to the front of the shop.

Although what did walk through the door wasn't what both girls had in mind of a customer; Gajeel had walked through the door and instantly turned his nose up at the smell of the books, obviously his nose was better off in the gym where sweat was oxygen for both him and Gray.

"Hello Gajeel," Lucy smiled, knowing full well it was going to be her doing the talking as Levy had lost all confidence in the ability to talk; Levy's mouth was currently opening and closing like a fish, nothing was forming in her head and nothing was coming out of her mouth.

Lucy couldn't blame her, Gajeel was much taller than both the girls, which made him look intimidating with his body structure of muscles and piercings that covered his face and body.

And by the looks and smell of it he had just done a set at the gym which caused sweat to pour from his head.

Lucy was greeted back with a grunt as Gajeel laid his eyes on Levy, "borrowing your friend here for a while."

Both girls looked at each other before Levy finally got her courage back and spoke, "say that again?"

Gajeel frowned, obviously not liking what was about to come out of his mouth, especially as it wasn't just Levy's ears who were going to be hearing his words.

"I said I'm taking you out. For a while. For lunch." Red had instantly worked its way on to Levy's face, whilst Lucy had to resist the urge to laugh; it was amusing to see someone who was known to be a bit intimidating be so embarrassed over asking a girl out to lunch. She was obviously going to have to tell the others at a later time if Levy ever returned.

"Okay, you can take her. I want her back in one piece though!" Lucy smiled, shooing both of them out of the building. Levy gave a worried expression as she was pushed out of the door with Gajeel

"Don't worry Levy, I'll look after the shop! You have fun!" She winked. It didn't help Levy's red face condition at all.

"And Gajeel," Lucy's face returned to normal as he turned around "I will hunt you down if you hurt her."

Gajeel only laughed it off as he slung Levy on his sweaty shoulder as they vacated the area with Levy screaming at him to put her down.

"GOD DAMN IT GAJEEL, PUT ME DOWN!"

* * *

The rest of the day in Levy's shop had been quiet; there had been a small buzz an hour after Levy had been taken on her date, but it was nothing that Lucy couldn't handle by herself.

The sun had just begun to set, causing the sky to turn a mixture of pink and orange, creating a warmth of colour over the sky. However, with the temperature still chilly from the day Lucy was least looking forward to stepping outside.

She was about to lock the door when suddenly she heard someone come through it; they had to be kidding right? It was just after five, the shop was closed. Lucy huffed as she put on a smile and went to greet the customer, ready to shoo them out the shop when she suddenly let the smile drop from her face when she saw who stood in front of the door.

There he was; the one guy she was trying desperately not to think about too much and there he was, in all his damn glory.

"Natsu? What are you doing here?"

Natsu rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, she could tell he wasn't exactly his normal self; something was bothering him.

"I saw metal face tugging Levy along on my way home from the gym and thought I would see if you needed some food."

He was sweet, thoughtful too, but Lucy knew there was something bothering him deep down more than wanting to fill his stomach.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Levy was screaming and shouting to Gajeel that she can't leave you to run the shop all on her own, it was unfair and blah, blah, blah…" Lucy held back a laugh; Levy had everything she wanted in front of her and there she was trying to get out of it.

"Typical Levy, blabbing about my whereabouts," both of them laughed, even though Levy was Lucy's best friend it was also known that the girl would spill her whereabouts if she was upset or if Natsu was looking for her - to apologise or at least fake an excuse to get her out of a boring class.

Natsu stopped laughing briefly to see the sight in front of him. It had been such a long time since he had heard her voice, let alone her laugh. But there was something still lingering around her that Natsu couldn't put his finger on.

She looked like the same Lucy, hell she even acted like the same one, but there was something about the Lucy in front of him that had him puzzled.

"So, are you doing anything this evening?" Natsu blurted out, causing Lucy to go silent; it shouldn't be awkward. It really shouldn't. They were best friends, friends since school, they knew each other inside out; so why were they both looking like rabbits caught in the headlights?

Lucy looked at the floor, it was much easier than looking at Natsu, who was still coming to terms with what had fallen out of his mouth.

It shouldn't feel this weird, Lucy was becoming angry with herself over the matter; they were best friends. Natsu was her best friend, a best friend who suddenly went travelling with out telling her, but a best friend none the less. Nothing bad was going to come from hanging out with him, the only thing that would be damaged would be her bank account as Natsu was known for being able to eat everything in sight…

She took a deep breath,

"Why are we just..." He pointed between the both of them and the large gap between the two of them "Just like this?" Natsu blurted out once again, it seemed his mind was in over drive making space for other things as more words fell from his mouth,

"We're best friends for fuck sake, best friends who are becoming awkward and weird. You should only be the weird one, not both of us…."

"It seems my weirdness is rubbing off on you," there was a small smile on her face as she looked up from the floor and looked over to him. With the sunlight fading in the distance, the last few rays of it gave Natsu's natural tanned completion a nice light to him, for a moment Lucy even suggested the thought that he looked quite hot.

* * *

"Who would have thought your weirdness was contagious? I hope there's a cure…" Natsu teased as she grabbed her belongings from the floor as she locked Levy's shop.

"Cheers.." she muttered in annoyance.

* * *

It had seemed Natsu couldn't make up his mind what food he was in the mood for, Lucy thought it couldn't be that hard as Natsu loved anything spicy. If it wasn't about to blow your mouth off Natsu wouldn't enjoy it; he was even known at gatherings to bring his own spice sauce - because no one could handle his level of spice.

Sighing as they passed the tenth restaurant in their mission to feed Natsu Lucy was beginning to ache; or more to the point her shoes were beginning to rub the back of her heels, and yet so many people recommended them on the fact they didn't rub. Liars.

"How about we head back to mine? It's obvious you have no clue what you want to stuff your stomach with…"

Natsu smiled, "I was wondering when you were going to offer your services." He then blushed as to how badly that sounded, especially as they were in public where people could over hear.

Lucy's face quickly turned from embarrassment to complete anger at the comment; more of the fact they had been walking for hours, killing her feet in the process and he was just _waiting_ for her to offer to cook for him?

This was why she wanted to repeatedly hurt him.

"You have to be kidding me right now, like seriously, you must be fucking kidding me Natsu," she had snapped, her bumbling idiot of a best friend was just expecting her to know that was what he wanted in the first place?

Natsu held a confused look on his face, Lucy was scary when she became angry, and yet he had no idea what he had done; he registered he had done something but for the life of him he had no idea.

"Uh, yes?" Natsu watched as Lucy's nerves snapped in half, he prepared himself for the onslaught of words to stab him a thousand times over; he would rather have Lucy shout at him then have Mira or Erza - although it seemed like all the women he knew well had some sort of she-devil in them…

"How the hell was I suppose to know you wanted me to cook for you? You gave no hints, not even 'Natsu subtle' hints!" Lucy shouted, flailing her arms about in a dramatic fashion, enough for Natsu to bite on his lip to stop himself from laughing at her.

"Oh, fucking fantasic, now you're biting your fucking lip to stop yourself from laughing!" He couldn't stop himself any longer, he burst out laughing he was sure he was about to die from laughter, or Lucy's anger either way it was worth it.

"Fucking Mavis, give me strength.." she muttered under her breath as she began to walk towards her home. She turned to look behind her, Natsu was still stood in the same place looking at her.

"Do you want me to cook or are you going to starve?" Natsu didn't need to be told twice, he quickly caught up with her as they both walked back to her flat.

* * *

Natsu remembered every detail to Lucy's flat before he left; it brought a sense of nostalgic back to him. There were plenty of photos hanging up in Lucy's home; there was one that really caught his eye though, a large photo of the gang at graduation all smiling and posing together, it was only a few years ago, but the thought that they had all grown up was enough to hit home for Natsu.

It was clear he had missed so much, but yet everyone had still remained the same, apart from Lucy, who still seemed uncomfortable in his presents.

"Hey Natsu —" Lucy stopped what she was about to say when she saw Natsu looking at the photos on the wall, a small smile appeared on her face, until she noticed the photo he was looking at so intently; her birthday. Her twenty-fifth to be more exact.

It was a surprise birthday that everyone had taken part in, Lucy had no idea what was happening and it was Levy and Erza who had suggested for Lucy's birthday they went to Mira's for some drinks and just have a girly night out; Lucy had thought nothing else would happen until she was greeted by her celebrating her birthday, but there was still one person missing and she knew she was holding her breath on that as the last two years she hadn't even had a happy birthday message or anything from Natsu, but it still felt weird with out him being there.

"Hey Luce," he looked away from the group photo of Lucy around her cake with everyone smiling and turned to the Lucy in front of him.

Her eyes held sadness but the smile was genuine on her face as she looked over to the photo,

"You know, I even said to Gray that night that it didn't feel like my birthday. He had said the same when it was his. There was just a certain pink haired annoyance missing," she chuckled, Natsu smiled as he hugged her, causing her to almost choke out a cry.

"Well, I'm here now. A little late but Happy Birthday Luce!"

Same old Natsu, Lucy thought.


	5. Chapter 5

_Fancy lunch later?_

Lucy's phone vibrated on the table she currently sat at; a small smile was present on her face, one that Levy did not miss at all, nor the other girls who were sitting in the booth along with her.

Her relationship with a certain pink haired boy was slowly repairing itself; after they had spent the night talking constantly about things, even Natsu telling Lucy about his travels and all the food he experienced - which went on for a long time… Everything seemed to be how it used to be, laughing and none stop jokes spilling from their mouths.

"Someone seems cheery," Levy mused, watching her best friend turn a light shade of pink,

"Says the one who still needs to talk about her date with metal face," Lucy returned, not even looking away from her phone as she typed back a response

 _Sorry to disappoint you on the lunch, but I'm already eating - with the girls!_

"Yes, Lucy did tell Juvia about spending time with Gajeel. What was it like?" Thankful that Juvia had taken the bait away from her, Lucy smirked back to her now red faced best friend. It was a long over due conversation that needed to take place; and once Mira had found out about it she had shut the bar and made cocktails for the her and the rest of the girls.

"I—I don't see why this is such a big deal!" Levy squeaked out, the blush still not disappearing from her face; the girls only laughed back at her response.

"Just be thankful that Erza isn't here at the moment Levy, otherwise this would be a different matter completely," Cana laughed, Levy shuddered.

But it had seemed Cana had cursed them, as said scarlet haired woman had just walked through the doors to the bar, it was almost as if she knew they were talking about her…

"Shit," Levy sighed under her breath, there was no way having Erza and Mira in the same room talking about her love life was going to be a good thing. So the only thing she could do was take a large glass of Mira's mixed concoction of a cocktail; she was going to need more alcohol.

"Now that everyone is here, let's get started shall we?" Mira smiled as she looked towards Levy, who quickly downed the rest of her drink and sighed.

"Yes, Juvia wants to know how Levy and Gajeel's date went!" The other blue haired woman was excitedly moving around in her seat; anything that involved love or Gray always sparked her interest; although if it was something about someone liking Gray the mood would change drastically with Juvia who would declare war on the other person; as Lucy once had the discomfort of that experience when talking to Gray before Gray and Juvia became a 'thing'.

Levy looked at the other girls, who all seemed to be holding their excitement back, there was no way she was ever going to get out of this…

"After he barged his way in to my shop he took me over to the park for a hot chocolate and we strolled through all of Magnolia's park for a while; he was actually really sweet, I know he seems a bit intimidating but when he's around me he acts completely differently," she held her breath as some of the girls raised a questioning eyebrow while Mira had her overly sweet smile sticking to her face,

"He paid for everything as well, it was really nice. And then after that we went to a little outdoor cafe where again he paid for the food and drinks and then walked me back home, nothing really happened. It was just a nice outing with him," the blush was present on her face once more, which Lucy of all people knew Levy had more than a little crush on him now.

* * *

The autumn air had turned sharp and cold, causing Lucy to loose her breath a few times; now she loved autumn so much, the colours of warmth from the remaining leaves from Summer were enough to please her, as well as the fact she had a beautiful view from her living room window of Magnolia's park, which brimmed with explosions of colour.

But it was the walks home she disliked most of all, it was cold and the sun was beginning to set earlier each day, and more to the point she was still behind on her novel, which was bothering her more and more each day from lack of inspiration.

Whilst in her daydream of over thinking her novel she had managed to walk in to something hard, and the pain she had felt in her bum was prominent;

"Watch where you're go—"

"Geez Luce, is that how you greet people?" Natsu smiled whilst holding his hand out to help her up.

"Sorry, I was in a world of my own wasn't I?" She asked whilst Natsu helped her up, watching his smile grow bigger; clearly he was laughing to himself over her clumsy fall.

"Pretty much, what's up?" She raised an eyebrow at him, yes okay he was always concerned over her, but this phrase of words he chose didn't sound like the Natsu she knew.

"What's up? Are you trying to keep up with the kids Natsu?" She started to giggle, watching Natsu blush,

"Shut up." This caused Lucy to laugh a little louder, it was easy to tease her pink haired friend; and she had missed that a lot.

"Okay, I'm sorry. How about I pay for a take out, as an apology?" That did it, that was pretty much the best way to get Natsu to smile again, food.

"Sure, is there a limit?"

"You're damn right, you're not eating away my bank account!"

* * *

Lucy had completely forgotten the amount Natsu could happily pack away in to his bottomless stomach. And yet the guy had the body of a god underneath his clothing - it was a complete mystery how he could eat and not see a difference in his body mass.

Gajeel was the same, but he worked in the gym, so that was an understandable answer as to where the food went - but Natsu?

"Hey Luce, are you going to eat —"

"Get off my food you pig!" Lucy frowned at him as he tried to put his fork in her food, one of the many annoying habits he still had then.

"But you're taking your time to eat, I thought you said you were hungry,"

"Natsu, there's a difference with me and you. I eat like a normal person whilst you eat like you've never had food in your life… _four times a day_!"

Natsu held a sheepish grin to his face, he couldn't fight that fact. But it wasn't his fault there wasn't a food in the world he didn't love, and he especially loved Lucy's cooking; which was probably why he was now helping himself to a fifth portion of food Lucy had ordered, what a great friend she was.

"I heard Gajeel is going to ask Levy out."

He had said it so boldly to her, not even giving her a warning of any kind. Lucy could have sworn she was about to choke on her food; why now of all times did he have to give out something so big and life changing whilst she was stuffing her face.

"Repeat that again?"

"You heard me, Gajeel is going to ask Levy out, have you gone deaf now?" Lucy's eye twitched at his comment, but allowed it to pass whilst she took in the information.

Levy and Gajeel? Her best friend and a gym instructor? Well, there went the idea that she would marry a librarian out the window. She was going to have claim back her bet from Mira and Cana later.

"Well, that came out of no where. What brought this on?"

Natsu began slurping on the noodles as he spoke "Gajeel said he quite enjoyed the time with her, and they've been sneaking off every now and again anyway,"

Lucy spat her food out,

"WHAT?!"

"I thought you knew that? Levy's your best friend right? After me of course!"

"You've got to work your way back up to that title sunshine!" Lucy commented back, Natsu frowned a little, but not enough to look serious.

"I had no idea they were seeing each other behind all our backs. How the hell did you know about this?" She seemed a little hurt; her and Levy always told each other things, even little details like that, she felt betrayed by her best friend.

That had to be a record right? Two best friends' betraying her.

"Gray and I caught them at the gym sneaking around, and Gajeel giving Levy some 'private' lessons."

Lucy's face turned red, she did not need to know about this information,

"Oh god, I am never, ever going to be able look at Levy and Gajeel in the same light again."

Natsu laughed, watching Lucy's face turn in to pure horror at the thought of her best friend having sex with the over intimidating thug.

"Oh god, that image is premaritally stuck in my memory forever," Lucy had begun to walk around her living room, her face still mortified she kist pictured her friend having sex, "there's no way that will ever disappear. Oh no."

She had managed to fall over her feet, and landed on the floor with a thud, Natsu couldn't help but chuckle at the outright clumsiness she held sometimes; freaking over nothing that concerned her at all, but it was still nice to see she cared, in a perverted way, he laughed again at his inner thoughts.

"Let me help you up, weirdo." He held his hand out, to which she took and stood up; there was a moment where both of their eyes met, a small staring contest had happened and before anything else was mentioned Lucy blinked and blushed slightly.

"Geez Luce, you're being a proper weirdo today; first thinking perverted things over your friends and then staring at me. What the hell have you been doing?"

"Oh shut up, you started it by telling me they were up to that!"

"I only told you what they were doing, not the details, you thought of that all on your own," he smirked, he had a point.

"Oh..shut up." It had to be the weakest comeback she had ever given out and a blush was back to being plastered on her face, stupid Natsu.

"You don't have anything to throw back at me? What the hell happened when I was gone?" Natsu smirked again, shocked he was able to mock The Lucy Heartfilla aka the sass queen.

Lucy huffed as she through a pork dumpling towards his face out of spite.


	6. Chapter 6

Lucy sat at her desk, her hair in a messy ponytail, baggy white top and pink pyjama shorts with her old school socks on, she fit the stereotypical twenty-something who was too busy to focus on her life decisions in clothing whilst working.

She had been in the same position for over eight hours and had managed to type out another three chapters to her novel; she stretched her arms, a large popping sound alerted her to her body needing that.

It was Thursday, which meant so many things to her; all her friends would be at work, no one was able to bother her in her bubble of inspiration; not that it ever bothered them anyway, as they always some how made themselves welcomed in her home - she had no idea how on earth they would get in though, as she was positive she was the only one with a key…

"I suppose I can reward myself with some ice cream, I could do with a sugar rush right —"

She stopped in her tracks as she witnessed Natsu, Gray and Erza in her living room, there were three bowls out and what looked like an empty tub of ice cream.

"WHAT IN GODS NAME ARE YOU THREE DOING HERE?!"

She was more confused on how she didn't even hear them enter her flat, they were the unlikely three to stay quiet for long.

"Whoa Luce, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be deaf for the rest of my life now.." Natsu replied, putting a finger in his ear to emphasis the deafening pitch to his hearing.

"We thought we would see how you were going, you know we haven't seen you at the bar for a while…" Gray replied, ignoring Natsu's comment.

"Yes, Mira sent us over to check on you." Ezra replied, whilst eating the ice cream Lucy was looking forward to.

She sighed, was it so hard to just be anti social for a while? She had a deadline for this novel and her friends were not helping at all, the only thing they were helping were to clear her fridge out of her food.

"But you all have jobs…"

"I'm on a lunch break," Gray replied cooly,

"I was in the area," Erza replied

"I was bored."

Once again she sighed, "fine. But you can all clearly see I'm okay. You can report back to Mira, or better yet I will do it myself."

"Well, we were going to ask if you wanted to go to the bar tonight for a few drinks, you know, have a break from being in here." Natsu smiled as he saw his best friend frown at the option of going outside,

"Maybe."

"Then it's decided, we shall all meet at Mira's at 7pm," Erza rose from her seat and smiled, "Oh and Lucy, I would suggest you wear a bra or something that covers your uh, chest…." The scarlett haired woman spoke as she left, Lucy looked down to what she meant and blushed

"I'm in my home! I don't need to wear a bra!"

Gray and Natsu snickered to one another as Lucy kicked them both out of her front door and passed Erza.

* * *

Mira's bar was busy when Lucy arrived at 6:45, fifteen minutes early than planned but she was punctual, she always was.

There was already a smell of alcohol in the air and Lucy was sure it was coming from a certain brunette who was always in the building - wether she was working or hanging with friends Cana was always in the building drowning herself in alcohol; it was quite an amazing thing to watch the girl down pitcher after pitcher of Mira's concoction of drink and not feel the effects.

And it seemed said girl was already on the deadly drinks.

"Hey! Lucy get your ass over here!" Lucy prayed to the gods that she was not about to be pulled in to one of Cana's drinking games; that's all she needed before Erza, Natsu and Gray arrived.

"Hey Cana, what's the matter?"

"You look like you could do with a drink, Mira get this girl a drink!"

"Oh hello Lucy, it's nice to see you in here, Natsu and the others were saying how they were missing you around here," a blush crept up on to Lucy's face at the mention of Natsu's name. How was it possible that he would start to make her blush?

He was still not forgiven and he was still not owning the title of best friend just yet…

Who was she kidding, Natsu was always going to be her best friend, she was too scared to actually call him that right now.

"Yeah, they bombarded my home earlier…"

Both Mira and Cana shared a look and smirked

"I'm sure they did, that wouldn't surprise me at all" Cana replied, drinking what could only be described as her sixth drink that evening.

"Of course, but they just worry about you that's all. Especially Natsu." Mira chimed in, whilst placing a full tray of drinks on the bar.

Lucy faced the drinks that Mira had placed in front of her, she knew she was blushing and she didn't need the match maker or the drunk to add to the colour any more.

"Look, she's blushing…"

Stupid friends.

Lucy quickly downed the drink in front of her, if this was how the night was going to be than she would welcome her drunk state and the hangover from hell with welcoming arms.

"Hey Luce, starting already?" Natsu greeted as he strolled up to the bar in black jeans and a white v neck top with his most prized possession, his father's scarf.

"I feel like I will be needing it," she mumbled, now holding on to her second drink, being around Cana must have been rubbing off on her.

Lucy then noticed the lack of Gray and Erza by his side, it wasn't like the two of them to be late, then again she was early.

"Where are the others?"

"Gray said he had to walk Juvia here, and Erza I believe is not too far away. And then the others should be here soon."

"Here are the drinks Natsu," Mira smiled brightly as she lay a large tray of drinks in front to him, to which Lucy stared at the amount; this was not going to be a casual night out was it?

"So much for a casual drink," she muttered as Natsu took the tray over to an empty table.

"So who is coming then?" She asked, preparing herself more for the hangover to end all hangovers.

Natsu brought his hand to his face and began to list people off, "well, Levy and Gajeel, Gray, Erza, Juvia, pretty sure Jelall said he would come —"

"So pretty much the whole of fucking Magnolia is coming," Lucy sighed.

* * *

Well, at least she knew Mira was going to be busy this evening with drinks; her bar was so busy it was impossible to get to the front with out being elbowed in the side.

She was also grateful Natsu managed to grab a few tables before the mass of their friends arrived, so far the table was filled with Natsu, Gray, Juvia and Erza. It was cosy to say the least.

"Here you go, Mira said the cocktails are for you girls." Natsu replied, handing out two jugs of cocktails to the girls. Lucy was praying to the lords that this would not kill her liver any time soon. The smell was enough to make her drunk.

"It's not like Levy and Gajeel to be late is it?" Ezra spoke as she poured her cocktail in to a glass, whilst Juvia and Lucy watched her face twinge at the amount of alcohol that was in the glass.

"Now that you mention it, Levy isn't really a late person…" Lucy commented, passing the jug of death to Juvia,

"Hey guys!" Lucy looked up and saw Gajeel but not Levy, but she was sure she heard her voice,

"Hey Shrimp, you're going to have to have a light on your head or something so I can find you in this mass of bodies," Gajeel teased as Levy frowned at the comment.

But she completely ignored the looks she was receiving from the girls, who looked like they were grinning so much their faces may permanently stay that way.

It was Natsu and Gray who instigated the situation first, both of them sniggering at Gajeel who was doing his best to ignore the two idiots.

"So Levy, anything to tell us?" An overly sweet smile graced Mira's face as she walked over, it was almost as if she was only there to receive the gossip; not that that was ever the case. She was just always pleased to hear it from the mouths of her friends that they were a couple.

"Nothing to share with you girls,"

"Oh come on Levy, tell us if Gajeel's pierced down there just like his face," Cana winked, which caused Lucy, Levy, Erza and Juvia to blush bright red.

"I'm—I—-" Levy was stuttering, never had she been asked such an outrageous question in all her life, and more to the point she had no idea how to answer it.

"We really don't want to know!" Both Gray and Natsu shouted in unison, there was some things in life where a man did not need to know about another man.

And this was one of them.

Levy sighed, thankful that the boys helped defuse the question, but it still didn't satisfy Cana,

"Okay Levy, you can tell me later when you're nice and drunk," she teased. This of course left the poor girl blushing more shades of red than Erza's hair.

* * *

Mira's cocktails were lethal; Lucy was going to have to tell her to tone it down on the spirits, or at least make a cocktail where she didn't feel like she was going to fall flat on her face as she was going to the bathroom.

She was more thankful for knowing that her friends were around her this evening; which meant more of a chance of them feeling her pain tomorrow morning, although she was pretty sure it was just the girls who were on the cocktails…

"I'm—I'm going to hurt little Mira's face when I see her next," Lucy slurred as she slumped back in to her seat, it was fair to say she was feeling the effects of the fourth round of cocktails.

"I will join you on that quest Lucy, I will avenge your liver!" Ezra called back, her face showing no signs of joking

"But what about Erza's liver?" Juvia questioned, which proved to much for Erza to think of as she questioned herself,

"Jellal, would you avenge Erza's liver?" Ezra asked, to which said blue haired guy turned a small shade of red at the mention of his name coming from the red head.

"Of course, for you I would avenge it a thousand times over,"

"Disgusting," Natsu muttered, Gray nodding in approval,

"Oh Gray, Jelall is so romantic! Would you avenge Juvia's liver if you had to?"

"No, because we're not in a romantic relationship!"

Natsu began to laugh, unable to hold back from the situation unfolding in front of him, "Liar, you have feelings for her, you're just in denial that's all,"

It was at that moment that Juvia sat just a little closer to Gray and launched herself at his arms,

"I knew Gray loved Juvia, I just knew it!"

Gray completely ignored the woman on his arm declaring her love for him and instead stared daggers in to his best friend's face,

"Says the idiot who won't admit that he's in love with his best friend!"

This caused the group to stop talking and look over to the boys currently glaring daggers at one another.

Lucy at this moment in time chose to drink the last of the remains of the cocktail, she was surprised a fight didn't break out sooner; more to the point that they were all feeling the effects of the nights worth of drinks.

And then she ended up falling off her chair. Causing the group to stare at her and little Levy to burst out laughing; she always was the _very_ happy drunk in the corner laughing at everyone one.

"Lu—Lucy fell—off—the chair!" she laughed, Gajeel face palmed his head; he was going to have to deal with a childlike and overly happy Levy tonight, it was going to be like getting a child to go to bed on christmas eve.

"Okay, I think we all need to calm the fuck down, obviously the girls have had way to much of Mira's death drink and are in need of some water or something," Gray suggested, still trying to wriggle his arm free from Juvia, who had a steel like grip on him.

"Agreed, we need to deal with these girls before they gang up on us," Gajeel confirmed, Jelall on the other hand had no choice in the matter as Erza was threatening him with sex if he dared to deny her access to drink; she was definitely hanging around Cana too much.

"Well, apart from Erza, the girls need to stop drinking now," Natsu spoke, watching as a spaced out Lucy was getting herself back on her chair with out causing much trouble,

"I'll take charge of Lucy, I'll take her out the back and get some fresh air in her lungs," he looked back over to her, she was smiling towards him at the sound of her name, it was oddly cute and disturbing at the same time for him.

"Come on Luce, let's go outside for a bit,"

Lucy didn't even get to have a say before Natsu took her hand and led her outside.

* * *

The cool nights air was pleasant for her; more so that she never really noticed how much she needed this fresh air compared to the warmth inside the bar.

The cold breeze tickled her skin as she looked up to the stars above; there was something about the stars that she loved, maybe more so by the story her mum used to tell her about how she believed that looking up at the stars was her way of remembering past members of the family.

She had completely forgotten Natsu had also been outside with her, in fact he was the one who brought her out here.

"Feeling better Luce?" There was a playful tone in his voice and as she looked over she saw the grin that took to his face,

"Is that your way of teasing me over how drunk I am right now?"

"Maybe, I'm just glad it won't be me experiencing that hangover in the morning,"

"Thanks for reminding me," Lucy sighed as Natsu put an arm around her to keep her warm whilst laughing.

"It could be much worse, you could be Erza experiencing that hangover, remember the day she woke up from one of Mira's bar nights?"

Lucy had to stop a giggle falling out, the said scarlet was a true monster that morning when she was unable to preform the simplest of tasks, which led to several phone calls to their friends to help calm her down and to also help her.

"I feel worse foe Jellal; I don't think he's going to be standing tomorrow."

The two friends began to laugh, and Lucy began to feel more at ease with Natsu; she was beginning to let her barrier fall around him and she had no idea wether it was a good idea to allow that, or wether in her heart of hearts she was doing it on purpose.

Natsu on the other hand was just glad he got to spend some alone time with his favourite blonde friend; he would never admit it to her right now, or even ever but he missed her more than words could say when he went travelling, and he knew how much this had effected her; after all, when he returned home Gray and Erza had informed him of how hurt Lucy was and to be careful of his actions around her.

He never thought in a million years he would hurt Lucy, they were Natsu and Lucy, the blonde and the idiot who were best friends, who would go on night drives or adventures to experience the world, not Natsu and Lucy, who were in the middle of repairing their friendship.


	7. Chapter 7

Lucy had awoken the next morning with the most horrific hangover she had ever experienced, her nose was also being over powered by a smell of burnt wood and earthiness, she was now alarmingly aware that she wasn't just the only person in the room. But yet the smell was oddly familiar and comforting.

Her eyes opened slowly, the bright light from the sun's rays outside burning her sight, this was not how she wanted to be woken. She began to move gently only to realise that there was an arm around her waist and the light sound of snoring behind her; there was also a huge amount of heat radiating off the person behind her.

Natsu.

"Natsu?" She hoped for her sake that it was in fact her best friend behind her and not someone she was about to regret for the rest of her life, that was the last thing she needed in her life right now.

"Go back to sleep Luce," the all too familiar nickname he called her suggested that it was him, a small smile crept on to her face as well as a small blush; Natsu Dragneel, the best friend who made sure you were safe.

"I wish I could, but the sun is beaming in my face right now,"

Natsu sighed as he moved his arm from her waist, a small amount of cold air graced the spot he had just left, only for his hand to skilfully find her face and eyes and cover them.

"There, now will you please go back to sleep?" She had to stop herself from giggling as the tiredness leaked from Natsu; it was a rare moment to catch him this tired. But none the less she co-operated and did as she was told, more for the sake of her hangover than anything.

* * *

It was at that moment as both Natsu and Lucy were happily drifting back in to dreamland and ignoring the constant pounding on their heads from a ever persistent hangover, that a loud buzzing was echoing around the room, Natsu groaned in annoyance, he was positive that it was going to be Gray either calling him or Levy calling Lucy.

More to the point, was it really that hard to get some extra sleep right now?

"Natsu, go shut up that noise," Lucy moaned as she stuck her head under the pillow to stop the headache she was having. Natsu snickered but reached for the phone anyway,

"Hell—"

"NATSU?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING PICKING UP LUCY'S PHONE?!" Natsu shivered, it was the last person he was expecting to hear at this time in the morning, and more to the point, it didn't sound as if she was too chirpy either.

"Uh, hi Erza,"

"You haven't answered my question,"

Natsu swallowed the saliva he had somehow been holding before he spoke; it was Erza for crying out loud. Ezra who would have no mercy on him.

"Lucy's currently experiencing a hangover, and she ordered me to pick up her phone."

He swore he heard someone laughing behind Erza at that point, which if he wasn't mistaken sounded a lot like Gray; the dick.

Becoming now frustrated with the ear lashing he was receiving from Erza, Natsu decided to place Lucy's phone under the pillow where said blonde was currently sleeping and put it against her ear.

He watched cluelessly for a few minutes as muffled speech was taking place between Lucy and Erza, even with his amazing hearing; which some cases was a blessing, he couldn't understand what on earth was taking place between those two girls.

He was about to settle back down in to the comfort of his bed when he was suddenly launched in to the air from his blonde best friend leaping in to the air, duvet and pillows as well.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ARE AT NATSU'S!" came a loud voice from the phone, Lucy had jumped from the outburst and the total unannounced volume in Erza's voice.

Natsu looked up from the pile he was currently sat in on the floor; looking very confused, towards Lucy, who was showing a scared expression on her face.

Now if this was any other time, the pink haired boy would be snickering in the corner, it was a rare sight to see Erza become mad at anyone but himself and Gray, and occasionally the other guys they hung around with, but for Erza to mad at the girls was the strangest and most confusing sight to be witnessing.

If anything, Erza was stern, and bold. But when it came to Lucy Erza was like a sister to her; Natsu was also positive that both girls could share a look and know what each other meant.

It was disturbing.

"I must have been really drunk to have ended up here, Natsu must have thought it was a good idea…" Lucy began to speak, rubbing her head from the slight pain of a headache forming, "I didn't mean to scare you guys, honestly,"

Natsu couldn't help but smile; Lucy getting told off by Erza was something to enjoy immensely. Because of course it was either him or Gray being scolded by the red haired devil - not that Gray or himself would actually call her that to her face.

He watched as Lucy sat back on the floor, or more to the point lied across the hardwood floor and rested her phone against her ear as she closed her eyes.

"No, he didn't do anything like _that_. He's fine, I'm currently fending off a hangover from hell…" Lucy sighed back.

It seemed Lucy was becoming tired of her little scolding from Erza, it had also looked like Erza had stopped as well.

Having Erza as a friend was always hard work, especially when it came to Lucy's wellbeing, more to the point Erza being protective of her and knowing how much she hurt when her pink haired idiot of a best friend left.

"Yo Luce, wake up, otherwise she'll take down my door just to make sure you're okay." Natsu joked, although he was sure Erza would go to those extremes,

"Not that you're one to talk Dragneel," Lucy sighed as she remembered all the times Natsu had barged his way in to her home countless times over nothing. Or the amount of times when they were at university that said pink haired boy would climb through her window so he could hang with her; when there was a perfectly good door to use.

"I have no idea what you are taking about Luce," he played it off, smirking "Geez, for a smart arse, you can be such a weirdo."

"Don't be an asshat. You asshat."

* * *

Both Lucy and Natsu had collapsed in the seats left at the table; Erza had sent a text to the whole group to meet at Mira's bar for something 'important'. No one had a clue what the red haired woman was on about, nothing had been mentioned the night before; even if she had than no one had heard or remembered it.

"Glad to see you could all make it," she smiled,

"Can you hurry this up? There's a greasy take away shop with chicken nuggets with my name on it," Cana whined; a usual comment from the mouth of the casual drunk.

"What needed us to be all here?" Gray asked, although the look he received back from Erza informed him she was about to explain everything.

"Well, I'm so glad you could ask that," she glared at him before continuing, "Seeing as it's been a while since we've had a party—"

The group looked at one another, giving confused expressions to one another before looking back to Erza

"But I'm pretty sure we just—" Lucy interrupted before Jellal covered her mouth, shaking his head and mouthing the words 'don't anger her now'. Which of course the blonde stopped immediately; the wrath of Erza was not something she wished to be on the receiving end of. Ever.

"As I was saying; it's been a while since we had a party, or for that matter a social gathering,"

"She has to be kidding right? What was yesterday then?" Natsu whispered to Gajeel and Gray,

"Oh my gosh you're pregnant?!" Mira screamed as she came over to place drinks in front of every one.

The group looked over to the red haired woman and all held back large sounds of discomfort, as said woman was now expressing a now angered and extremely pissed off aura.

"My job has forced me to take some time off," Erza glared at Mira before continuing, "For a few weeks to be precise; something about an 'over due holiday' and about being the 'winner of employee who gets to have a holiday'…" the gang sweat dropped, how on earth did Erza not get the hint that her boss wanted her out of their hair for a while?

"And so as a thank you _and_ a prize, my boss has given me tickets to a spa retreat for three whole weeks," Erza smiled, whilst holding up the tickets in her hands.

"All right Erza scored us a free holiday!" Natsu shouted excitedly, whilst him and Gray fist bumped and Gajeel smirked.

The girls on the other hand all began screaming in excitement. Ezra included, which scared poor Jellal out of his skin as he stared wide opened at his girlfriend as if she had grown two heads.

"Sometimes even the great Erza scares her own boyfriend," Natsu snickered, the other two guys joining him before being greeted with a scowl from Jellal.

"Well, we all know what this means right?" Levy smirked as the girls all joined in with smirking at the exact same thought,

"LET'S GO GET US SOME NEW CLOTHES!" They high fived, before leaving the boys in the dust cloud they created staring at empty seats and a smile from Mira.

"Looks like you boys got left with the bill," she smiled, Natsu, Gray and Gajeel looked at Jellal who in turn sighed as he took his card out of his pocket.

* * *

Shopping was second nature to the girls; Levy and Lucy were on top of their game whilst rifling through the endless amounts of clothes in the seventh shop that afternoon. Lucy was trying her hardest with out thinking of how much she had already spent on new clothes for the 'possible' holiday she was about to take.

And thankfully it had arrived just in the nick of time for her in particular. It was a welcoming distraction from her novel, which at this rate wasn't any where near as close as she was hoping for.

"Hey Lucy, what do you think of this?" Levy called, holding on to a light blue bikini with a floral design on. Lucy looked at it for a spilt second before deciding it was for neither herself or her little bluenette friend in front of her.

"Um, I'm not sure about it if I'm honest?" Levy's face sank, she always did find it hard to find a bathing suit which didn't make her look like an eight year old child, "But I know a certain lover of the water who will," her eyes held a playful look as she hinted to the side of them where Juvia was currently humming to herself.

"Hey Juvia!"

Lucy held back a giggle as Levy moved on to her other friend.

* * *

"So, what's the deal with you and Lucy?" Gray asked as the guys began making their way through Magnolia; in a very familiar direction, the gym.

Natsu sighed as he looked up from his wondering feet and frowned, "I don't know." He sighed once more, "She's fine one minute and other times she's got a look of something on her face. It's like she doesn't trust me anymore."

He ran a hand through his hair as they walked through the door to the gym and in to the staff office, "Last night we shared a bed, like we used to years ago. It was fine, nothing was out of place between us and after Erza had phoned there seemed to have been tension in the air and I don't know why."

Gajeel and Gray looked at him, there was no way that Natsu Dragneel of all people would be baffled by a girl, and more to the point a girl who was his best friend.

"You really are an idiot," Gajeel muttered, knowing Natsu was able to hear him,

"What's that supposed to mean pin cushion?"

Gray had to hold back a snicker at the new nickname and creative nickname at that for Gajeel.

"She's hurt dumbass. Didn't you notice that the day you came back from the look on her face? It was practically tattooed on her face how hurt she was." Gajeel huffed, having now started a relationship with Lucy's best friend he had little glimpses of stories about Lucy and Natsu and 'how much pain she was in'. Levy had explained that Lucy had a little bit of a crush on the pink haired idiot and was so close to him that it took away her spark when he left.

"Yeah, and I feel stupidly bad for having told her nothing about being in contact with you. You should have seen the look on her face Natsu," Gray replied, trying hard not to think about Lucy's face as it went from smiling to heartbroken in a matter of seconds when he had seen she had the text.

"If anything, you deserve her weird behaviour at this moment in time." Gray continued; he knew Natsu needed to hear their words, even if they weren't in his favour right now, too much had been bottled up since he had returned.

"I still don't understand why you haven't told her you love her." Gajeel said, opening his desk draw and finding a protein bar.

"I couldn't," Natsu finally spoke, "What if she said no? That would cripple the friendship group we had… she'd feel awkward about it and not hang out as much and then where would that leave me? Natsu Dragneel who?" Natsu ranted on, not bothering to look at either of his friends right now.

Gray smirked, "Who would have thought, Natsu Dragneel; scared to say 'I love you'."


	8. Chapter 8

Who said girls couldn't pack lightly?

Lucy observed the suitcase she had expertly packed; one light pink suitcase sat by her front door waiting to leave for the three week long spa retreat; which Lucy had also noticed had a large beach surrounding it.

Not that she was stupidly excited.

Or looked at the reviews customers had given.

Or even looked at what spa treatments were available.

Nope, Lucy had done no such thing.

She smirked, who was she kidding? It was time away that she needed in a high dose. Even more so since she had to break the news to her publisher.

It was more the fact that Lucy's publisher wasn't that pleased with the all of a sudden idea that a holiday was happening - or more to the point that Lucy was now behind on her novel; but there was a small agreement that Lucy _would_ take her laptop with her and _try_ and gain a few more ideas and inspiration for the next chapters. But knowing the gang it would be impossible to get work done.

 _Gajeel and I are heading towards Erza's place, did you want us to stop by a pick you up?_

 _\- I also have Gajeel carrying my bags for me… ;)_

Lucy looked over to the text message, a smirk crept on to her face as she read the last part; Levy was never one to turn down a offer of Gajeel taking both their bags - especially when he would give her a sweet smile - not that Lucy had ever witnessed Gajeel ever smiling sweetly at _anyone._ But there was something about Levy that gave the 'intimidating' Gajeel a soft side.

Much to his liking, as Natsu and Gray would constantly tease him for showing a soft side towards the little bluenette.

 _Just as long as Gajeel doesn't mind carrying a third bag along the way ;)_

Lucy giggled to herself, unable to help herself to a little teasing on Gajeel's behalf. In fact she was more than capable of handling her own luggage, it was in fact an accomplishment that she even managed to get several outfits, make up, bikinis and toiletries in one bag.

* * *

"So Gajeel, who's taking care of the gym whilst you boys are away?" Lucy asked as her and Levy linked arms as Gajeel carried the luggage - not that he complained, he actually said it would count as a warm up for his arms.

"No one. We shut it up for the weeks we are spending there." Levy and Lucy looked at him, eyebrows raised,

"Really? Wouldn't that damage the reputation of the gym? What are your members going to do?"

"Well, it's not like they can go in there anyway at the moment. We're expanding some of the rooms; adding a few, you know…"

"So what you're telling me is you planned the work going on in the gym around this?" Lucy teased, unable to keep the smirk off her face as she saw Gajeel hide his blush.

Typical the brute didn't want to miss out on not seeing Levy in a bikini.

* * *

Both Lucy and Levy gasped as they saw the large amount of luggage thrown all over the hallway in Erza's house.

"There has to be at least twenty suitcases in this room alone," Lucy whispered,

"She does know it's for three weeks right? _Not_ three years." Gajeel huffed, in some ways thankful he wan't Jellal who had to carry that amount; who the hell did Erza think she was? The Queen?

"Hey guys, sorry about the, uh, mess." Jellal greeted,

"Is that all you guys are taking?" Levy commented, leaning against a suitcase that was almost the same height as her, which caused Gajeel to snicker to himself.

"Well, this is all I'm taking," Jellal motioned towards the one suitcase beside him, "But Erza insisted that she needed this many, and you know Erza, you can't tell her no." He blushed a little.

"Do you need any help?" Lucy asked, Jellal looked a little confused at the blonde for a moment,

"What do you mean? I'm already packed?"

"I meant for the kitchen sink. Because clearly Erza hasn't thought of packing it yet,"

Levy and Gajeel laughed, Lucy was right though, the only thing missing was a kitchen sink. Even Jellal had to hold back from laughing a little.

"Okay, you win that round Heartfilla."

* * *

"So how are we doing this?" Gray questioned as the group stood outside of Erza's house, luggage surrounding them; Erza's luggage on their own would need one car, there was already eight of them going, with seven suitcases and at least a thousand suitcases for Erza it was going to be a long journey.

"The girls should travel in one, the boys in the other." Ezra piped up, the boys huffed in disagreement,

"Oh no you don't. I'm not getting left with captain puke pants over there and his side kick vomit boy." Gray protested, looking over to both Gajeel and Natsu, who only glared at their nicknames

"The feelings fucking mutual stripper," Natsu muttered.

"Juvia will happily sit with Gray!" Juvia spoke, although it went unheard as the familiar insults were thrown straight over her voice.

"What was that asshole? Did you just call me a stripper?!"

"Well, you are pretty much hanging out in just your boxers right now," Gajeel commented, whilst Gray looked down at himself and there he was in nothing but he's underwear,

"Nice underwear," Natsu smirked as Gray began to dress himself again.

"Asshole," Gray muttered to himself.

"You guys do know that we have to be there at some point today right?" Levy questioned as the argument was slowly getting out of hand.

"Levy, it's no use. They won't hear us over the insults flying between our words." Lucy sighed.

* * *

"I'm going to need more alcohol than my liver will allow me," Lucy moaned as for the sixth time the sound of throwing up could be heard behind her seat.

"I'll join you on that one Lucy," Levy replied, her eyes closed as she tried to focus on anything but the sound of Natsu and Gajeel throwing up behind them.

* * *

"I'm so glad we didn't get stuck with the sick twins," Gray laughed, pleased that he had a car ride with Jellal and Erza, who he could at least talk to with out having to hear or smell sick coming from either of his friends mouths.

"Juvia just feels sorry for Lucy and Levy," Juvia sighed,

"By the looks of things your friends in the back aren't enjoying the journey at all," the taxi driver commented as four heads peaked between the drivers and the front passenger's gap to see both Natsu and Gajeel arguing and fighting over the sick bucket in the back of the car.

"What idiots," Erza said with a smile on her face, Jellal nodded.

* * *

The resort was beautiful; a large building sat just shy from the beach and overlooked the sea. Lucy and Levy were both certain they saw a clear glass roof top with a swimming pool situated on top of the building.

More to the point though, there was so many windows on the building that there was a clear indication that the building wanted to have an amazing view no matter where you looked; Lucy was praying to all the gods above her that Erza's boss had at least giving them a room above ground level that over looked the sea, although she would have been pleased with any view, just as long as it wasn't the one she was so familiar with back home.

"It's a shame Cana and Mira couldn't come," Levy spoke as they all but Gajeel and Natsu made their way up to their rooms in the lift.

"Yeah, Mira was saying how they had a long discussion about work to sort out, what ever that meant." Lucy said. It wasn't out of the ordinary that Mira would have plans or work for herself and the bar, but involving Cana as well was a bit strange.

"Well, I'm sure they know what they're doing. It's not like Mira's going to sell the bar or anything is it?" Gray laughed, Erza smirked.

"This is Mira we're on about though."

* * *

Lucy dropped her bags the moment she stepped foot in the room. It was huge. What on earth did Erza do so badly that she ended up being sent here as 'punishment'?

There was large windows which over looked the beach they saw as they travelled closer to the building, as well a balcony that had clear glass, so not to stop the view from being blocked. Thoughtful.

The room itself had a sitting area which overlooked the sea and to the left was a small, but beautiful kitchen area. And there were two doors to the right of her, where she imagined were where the two bedrooms were situated with the own on-suite bathrooms. Handy indeed.

"Hey Luce!" Natsu greeted as he barged the door open and threw his suitcase down.

"Well, there goes the peace and quiet" Lucy joked as Natsu began to search the kitchen for food, same old Natsu.

"If you hold yourself back from eating the contents of this place we're about to head down to get some food," Lucy scolded,

"But I'm hungry now,"

"When the hell are you not?"

Natsu just smirked at her, she was right, he was always hungry; and excited that he had to share the room with her than having to share with Gray.

"Anyway, I thought Juvia was suppose to be sharing with me?" Lucy asked, remembering that her blue haired friend was sleeping in the same room as her whilst Gray and Natsu shared.

"Well, that was the plan, then I mentioned to Juvia how sharing with Gray would be annoying and how there was a hundred percent chance of us ruining the room with fighting and thus asked if we could swap…you know, for insurance.."

Lucy stared at him for a bit; yes it was common knowledge that both boys always fought one another, but they always had when they were at school. No matter what the argument was there was always a fight.

But that was the thing about Natsu and Gray, they were best friends, best friends who knew how to push each other's buttons and cause a heap load of damage. But this was the first time that either of them had actually agreed that being in the same room would cause a hefty fine and annoyance to someone other than the group.

"Uh, well, that's really—"

"Smart, go on say it," Natsu teased as he saw a blush creep on to Lucy's face.

"Okay, now there's no need to be a smart ass around me Natsu," Lucy smirked as she began to wheel her suitcase to one of the bedrooms.

Natsu only smirked himself, knowing full well he had won that round as the blonde couldn't even manage a decent response.

* * *

"Hey, Gray, Gajeel. Fancy a challenge?" Natsu asked as they made their way in to the food bar with the girls in front of them.

"Am I not included in this?" Jellal asked as he raised an eyebrow towards them,

"Sure, if you're up to loosing."

Jellal's face fell as his frowned at Natsu, clearly not amused from the comment.

"Natsu…" Gray interrupted, "Are you going to challenge us or just argue?"

Natsu folded his arms before smirking, "Fine, have it your way. I was just going to issue a food eating contest. Between us four."

"You're challenging me to a food eating contest?" Gajeel chuckled, "You're going to regret that,"

"Damn right you're going to regret this when I'm victorious," Gray smirked putting his hands behind his head as he walked a little in front of them.

"I beg to differ, I may not look it but I can pack a lot of food away," said Jellal,

"So it's on then?" Natsu laughed as the four of them grabbed a plate each and made a beeline towards the food. Passing the girls confused faces.

"What's up with them?" Levy asked as the boys over took them towards the food,

"They must be really hungry," Erza decided, raising an eyebrow to Jellal joining the boys.

"Or they're up to something," Lucy mentioned, which was probably the right answer.

"Juvia knows Gray will win what ever they're doing," Juvia spoke, smiling to herself as she watch Gray and Natsu argue over a chicken leg,

"The only thing Gray will win is a stripping contest," Levy muttered as Lucy and Erza nodded.

* * *

"So…fulll…" Natsu moaned as he stuffed another piece of chicken in to his mouth

"Stop eating then," Lucy huffed, a frown had formed on her face as soon as she was correct about what the boys were up to.

"I think—urp—I'm going to need a fork lift to take me to the room," Gray sighed, pushing a plate of empty bones away from him.

"Juvia could arrange that," Juvia spoke, oblivious to the fact Gray was just joking about needing a forklift to take him to their room.

"I can't believe you joined them in their silly little challenges," Erza scolded Jellal as he sat with his head in a bowl of pasta, struggling to understand how the other three could mange so much food.

"I'm sorry." Was all he could speak before regretting it.

"Looks like you idiots are pretty much losers," Gajeel commented before he belched loudly and then held his stomach.

"Says one idiot to the other," Levy muttered to herself.

Ezra sighed as she rose from her seat and grabbed her bag, "There's nothing we can do for these idiots,"

"Agreed," Levy nodded, knowing what this meant as the other girls walked over to Erza with their bags.

"Where are you going?" Gajeel asked as the other boys looked over to them, struggling not to throw everything back up.

"We're going to the beach and then to have a pamper session, seeing as you boys are going to be held up here for a while," Erza glared, causing the boys to squeak

"We'll see you in a few hours," Lucy called back as they waved.

* * *

"Juvia needed this," the said girl moaned as the four of them sat in the most comfortable chairs that had ever existed with cold cocktails in their hands.

"Levy agrees with Juvia," sighed Levy, sipping on the cool liquid; it was impossible to not be relaxed right now, or tipsy.

"Erza, remind me to start working at your place if this is how they treat you for not having time off," Lucy spoke, as said red head smirked

"If I knew not having any time off would lead to this I wouldn't have booked all those other holidays off all that time ago," she laughed, causing the other girls to giggle.

"Speaking of time off. How did you all get time off for this?" Lucy asked,

"I managed to persuade Jet and Droy to look after the bookshop," Levy smirked, the girls giggled, knowing it wouldn't have taken much for Levy to convince the duo to look after her shop as both of them were besotted with the little blue haired woman - even through their school life Levy was always followed by those two, at least it showed loyalty..

"Juvia had time off anyway, and it's even better knowing she's sharing a room with Gray," the other bluenette signed happily as she took another sip from her drink.

"I forgot you and Natsu switched rooms," Levy commented with a glint in her eye as Lucy looked at her,

"Not like it would have taken much coaxing from him," Erza added, Lucy frowned at both of them, clearly missing something.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lucy frowned

"Well, clearly Natsu likes you, otherwise he wouldn't have swapped rooms with Juvia," Levy smiled

"Levy has a point. It's not like Natsu to kick up a fuss about sharing a room with Gray. After all they shared rooms when ever we went on trips and holidays as a group and neither battered an eyelid, until now." Ezra replied, her eyes closed as she took a large amount of her drink whilst her chair began to massage her tired muscles.

Lucy looked at her friends; of course she knew both Gray and Natsu well, hell she was the unfortunate one who had to deal with _both_ of them in her classes in school. And even then they were always fighting with each other, but always shared a room with one another.

"Come on Lu," Levy smiled, noticing how quiet the blonde had got, "You know he must have some feelings for you, otherwise he wouldn't have begged Juvia to swap rooms with him,"

"But he didn't —" Lucy was cut off as Juvia nodded her head

"Natsu asked me before we entered the building when you and Levy had walked ahead of us." Juvia replied, a small blush creeping on her face "But he said I couldn't tell you the truth…Oops,"

Lucy looked at her friends, each holding a mischievous grin on their faces, even Erza who had her eyes closed and listening to their conversation had a grin on her face.

"I have no idea what the three of you are up to but I don't want to be apart of it, especially if it's to do with Natsu and I." She huffed, knowing full well her friends probably had something up their sleeves when it came to plotting; something Mira was always proud of when it came to matchmaking and scheming ideas for couples to be together.

"But could you imagine if they got together? Mira would be so jealous she missed it!" Levy teased, knowing the white haired woman would be annoyed at missing someone being together - who she had wanted to set up for such a long time.

"Yes, we could even triple date, that would make dinner much more bearable than having Gajeel and Jellal talk about 'man things'…" Erza replied, causing Levy to giggle slightly.

Lucy stared at her three friends who were dealing with their own scenarios in their head of her and Natsu; it was outrageous. More to the point she wasn't even with her idiot of her best friend!

And yet here she was witnessing three of her best friends fantasise about a relationship that was currently non-existent.

"You've all be friends with Mira far too long," Lucy frowned as she looked at her three quiet friends, "And anyway, I don't even know why you're all ganging up one me, Juvia isn't dating either!"

Juvia raised an eyebrow at the blonde, who was now beginning to over think and over work her mind.

"That may be true, but at least Juvia is doing something about it," Juvia spoke,

Lucy sighed, Juvia had a point; in fact Juvia was always showing Gray her feelings and yet only every now and again would he react towards her open and bold love gestures.

But Lucy didn't have those feelings for Natsu anymore; he threw all hope away when he decided travelling was much more important than friendship and…who was she kidding, she sighed again knowing full well her heart wouldn't allow her to dislike the pink haired man, let alone hate him.

And if anything she was scared of letting her feelings out, she had bottled them up for so long since the day he left that she never allowed them to surface; she even taught herself to stop crying over him - which had scared the girls in the fact that Lucy held little emotion when being around them.

"Hey Lu, you're spacing out, are you okay?" Levy asked quietly as Lucy snapped out of her thoughts, "We didn't mean what we said, honestly, just a little fun,"

"Yes, I am completely and utterly ashamed of myself for going too overboard. Please Lucy, just slap me across the face," Erza spoke, showing her cheek so Lucy could hit her,

"She's going a little overboard don't you think?" Levy whispered to Juvia, who in returned nodded quickly before the scarlet haired woman could notice them.

"I'm not going to hit you." Lucy replied dryly as she got up from her seat, her drink in her hand and her bag in the other,

"I'm just going to go and sunbathe for a little, my body is itching to get on to the beach." Lucy smiled, taking no notice to the sympathetic looks her friends were giving her.

* * *

Lucy had to admit, she had never been to a beach where the water was crystal clear and had soft whiter sand. Or at least couldn't remember being somewhere so beautiful.

It was comforting to just be in the in the presence of something so magical. And what made it better was the fact it was just her spending time on the beach with out the sound of squabbling from her friends, or the sounds of Juvia confessing her love towards Gray, or even better, no stupid competitive arguing or games going on between Natsu, Gray and Erza.

It was heaven.

The sun was still high in the sky that afternoon as Lucy found a spot that was just perfect for lying down and reading in the sun; not that she would admit to anyone that was the real reason she wanted to be on the beach.

The sounds of the waves crashing on the sand behind her was soothing to her ears, she didn't need the pampering, or the nice room to be relaxed; this was perfect.

"Hey Luce!"

And there goes the peace and quiet.


	9. Chapter 9

Nothing was normal with her friends, nothing what so ever.

Stood in front of her, casting a shadow and blocking the sun's rays from her pale skin, was Natsu.

Natsu who had naturally tanned skin, that Lucy would not admit she was jealous of, was stood in front of her covered in food.

Food?

"I'm not even going to even acknowledge the fact you're covered in food right now — is that butter on your bicepe?!" Lucy frowned

Natsu only smirked, remembering of how he got in to the state he was in; oblivious to the stare Lucy was giving him right that second.

"Maybe? I don't know, all I know is that I won." He shrugged

"And what exactly was that? How much food could your body take before you became food?"

Natsu laughed, knowing full well Lucy was being her witty self; in fact the state he was in was nothing compared to the other boys, and that was a sight to behold.

"Nah, we had a food fight."

It was said so calmly and in fact it sounded so normal to Lucy's ears she brushed it off; after all being friends with the people she was friends with, having food fights or any fight was pretty normal for them.

And this was a pretty average case.

"So, we've been here for _less than a day_ and you've already had a fight and been kicked out of the restaurant?" Lucy removed her sunglasses to look up to Natsu's grin "That _has_ to be some new record for you right?"

Natsu obviously proud at his new 'record' was suddenly brought down very quickly at the realisation that Erza had no clue about what had happened, and knowing full well she would see Jellal, it was ultimately going to lead to his death.

At least he hoped it was quick.

"By the look on your face you've just come to the sudden thought of Erza's wrath am I right?" she was met with Natsu nodding, which caused her to laugh slightly at their red haired woman's wrath.

Or as Natsu and the boys liked to call her - minus Jelall - 'The Scarlet Demon'.

Although Lucy had never been on the receiving end of her friend's wrath, it was always a sight to behold when she did go in to full Erza Scarlet mode; which was why she was always so good at her job when dealing with the people she thought were not always co-operating in the way she deemed suitable.

Which was all the time.

"Eh, she'll have to find me and then catch me for her to release her demon wrath on me," he laughed, sitting down next to Lucy.

She sighed as Natsu was in no hurry to leave her be to enjoy the peace and quiet she wanted; putting her book down and placing her sunglasses back on, she looked over to see Natsu staring out to the sea.

"Something bothering you?" She asked, it was rare to see him so focused and deep in thought, although she knew Natsu, when he wanted to be was actually quite smart. Or that's what she wanted to believe anyway.

He was more of a fight first talk later type of guy, in fact most of her friends were; it was only now as she thought about it only a select amount of the girls who thought first before acting - unless you counted Erza who was a mixture of one of the boys and one of the girls.

"Not really," he smiled whilst still looking out to sea, "It's just reminding me of some travelling days, sometimes I would find a quiet beach and just chill near the waves, do some thinking and just relax."

A small smile found it's way on to Lucy's face "Oh really?"

"Yeah, mainly about where to travel next," he replied, before looking sheepish "Or where my next meal was."

"I knew food had to be involved somewhere in that brain of yours," she teased.

* * *

It was only a few hours later that Levy, Gajeel, Gray and Juvia had made their way to the beach in hopes of finding their two friends to hang with.

"You know, I thought by now Natsu would have at least told Lucy he liked her," Levy sighed as they walked over the soft sand

"Knowing him he's probably thinking more about food than what to do about his feelings," Gray snickered, Gajeel smirked.

"But Lucy at least deserves to know that Natsu likes her more than a friend, or at least that's what Juvia thinks…."

"I agree with you Juvia, Natsu needs to tell Lucy, otherwise Lucy will find some other hot guy and then it's game over for Natsu," Levy spoke once more, a strong determined look on her face, which caused Gajeel to smirk down at her.

"Easy there shrimp, it can't be all Natsu. Everyone knows bunny girl has a thing for the idiot; although it beats me what she sees in him…" he shrugged

"You're forgetting the main point here, both of them are being idiots" Gray rolled his eyes; it was common knowledge that both of his friends had a thing for each other, and from the way Natsu had been acting since he returned it seemed something had awoken that side of him.

Wether it was from travelling or just seeing Lucy again after all this time he had no idea.

"But Lucy is still hurting," Juiva explained, Levy giving a sympathetic smile at the thought of her friend. The boys sighed.

"You guys have little faith in Lucy. She's stronger than she looks, heck, she's been Natsu's best friend since she walked in to him accidentally at school," Gray responded, knowing full well that they all took in turns to comfort the poor blonde when she had received Natsu's text when he was at the airport.

Both Levy and Juvia had dealt with the worst of the tears from Lucy, the guys couldn't stand to hear her sobs, even Erza couldn't bare to hear the sobs coming from her friend, and that was something no one thought was possible.

It was then Gray who dealt with Lucy's frustration and anger over the pink haired idiot when she had realised there was no point crying over someone who didn't even bother to mention he was going to be jetting off and not even inviting anyone to accompany him.

The worst part of it all was the fact that the majority of the guys knew Natsu was off to travel and had kept that secret up to this day.

"Are you okay Gray?" Juvia asked as she noticed her 'love' had spaced out as they carried on walking towards Lucy and Natsu.

"Yeah, just thinking that's all."

* * *

"Ice prick? What the hell are you guys doing here?"

Well, Natsu was always creative with his nicknames.

"Nice to see you too." Gray glared, "We thought we would join you at the beach seeing as Jellal is taking one for the guy team right now."

Natsu froze immediately forgetting all about Erza and her wrath, a small shudder escaped his body.

"Well, it was nice knowing him." Natsu stated, "Rather him than me though,"

"But you're the one who started it!"

"Don't bother arguing with the idiot. He can't help being retarded," Gajeel snickered, causing Natsu to erupt with colourful and creative language towards both boys.

"You know, they're probably just having really good sex right now," Levy smirked as she and Juvia sat next to Lucy and proceeded to snigger,

"Poor Jellal," Lucy added, before the girls erupted in to a fit of giggles, causing the boys to look at them as if they were crazy.

"They really freak me out when they start laughing out of the blue," Gray shuddered, Natsu and Gajeel both agreed. For once.

* * *

The next few days had led Lucy to be sitting comfortably on the balcony overlooking the beach; which was so beautiful when trying to relax and all you could hear were the calming waves hitting shore.

 _We're heading to the beach, want to join us?_

It however wasn't that great having everyone texting her every minute of the day.

She had already received multiple texts from Erza, Levy and Juvia who had all each received the same reply back in a group chat that she would be unavailable for the next few days due to getting work done.

Of course after that the girls had stopped texting her, and instead replied back with various messages of plans to happen when she was done.

Not that Lucy was up for jet skiing any time soon.

"Hey Luce, did you get Gray's text? You comming?"

And there was the other reason. Natsu.

Lucy did feel bad, she really did with turning down invites with their friends, but she had made a promise to get work done - even if it was just a few chapters, but it was work none the less that she promised to do, and she never went back on her promises.

"Not today, maybe tomorrow?"

"You've said that for the last three days Luce." Natsu sighed, running a hand through his pink locks, she knew full well that it was probably hurting her friends she wasn't there with them enjoying the fun, but they all knew how important her work was to her..

"It's boring with out you hanging with us,"

She was quickly brought out of her thoughts and frowned when she replayed the words that had fallen from Natsu's mouth,

"Liar, I've seen you and the others having plenty of fun. I even watched you bury Gajeel when he fell asleep."

Natsu chuckled "Serves him right,"

"See, you're perfectly capable of having fun with out me. I'll be done hopefully by tomorrow,"

He didn't buy it. He knew Lucy well enough to know when something was bothering her, or more to the point he knew her much better than she knew herself most of the time.

Or that's what he thought anyway, because of course him being him led him to deal with Lucy and him becoming distant and weird around one another no matter how many times he thought they were okay.

"Sure," was all he spoke as he took his towel and phone and made his way out of the building to join the others.

 ** _Dear Lord have mercy on me for not wanting to strangle my best friend._**

 ** _Why does he have to be such a good looking, over confident and damn right outrageously stubborn guy?_**

 ** _Or more to the point why am I in love with him?_**

The passage was erased as quickly as she had typed in the first place, followed with the sound of her head hitting the table repeatedly.

She knew he didn't buy her stupid empty response. He wasn't that dumb.

He was Natsu.

Her _best friend_ Natsu.

Her best friend Natsu who was making her feel things she didn't want to.

Her best friend Natsu who she was _in love_ with.

* * *

"She's still up there?" Levy questioned as she saw Natsu on his own in his swim shorts and sunglasses setting up beside the group.

"Yeah, something about a few more chapters, blah, blah, blah." Natsu remarked, obviously still annoyed at the blonde, "She's being stupid."

Levy raised an eyebrow to him, "What makes you think that?"

"She's been acting weird, weirder than normal."

"And that's what's led you to be in this mood?" She asked,

Natsu huffed, "Nah, it's almost as if she's avoiding me, like she's pretending I'm not here or something? I don't know, I thought we were okay…"

"Bunny girl is dealing with herself. You forgot that you being an idiot has left untouched emotions and feelings to come back to the surface. Heck, she was acting like this the whole time you were gone and it'll probably take another bunch of years for her to be okay with it all again."

Both Levy and Natsu looked at Gajeel in shock and both with their eyebrows raised,

"I never knew you had it in you, to throw out feeling in a sentence," Levy spoke

"What do you mean when I was an idiot?! I'm never an idiot!"

"That's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard in my life," Gajeel snorted,

"Name one time I've been an idiot!"

"Going on your ' _around the world' trip_ , ' _daring Gray to drink ten pints of Mira's strongest drink_ '…."

" _Thinking you were capable of jumping off the roof in to the pool_." Levy listed

" _Challenging Cana to a drinking contest_ ," Juvia quipped

" _Thinking it would be a good idea to offer a shot to the 'reader' at our graduation to calm his nerves_ ,"

"Actually that was a pretty good idea, who knows how he would have said half of our class's names…" Jellal commented,

"They should have allowed me to read the names," Erza sighed, remembering how the poor guy who did it needed more than the shots that Natsu had presented him with.

" _Not telling Lucy you love her_ ," Gray added, causing the group to look at him, as if he had grown another head.

"What?" He frowned, looking at the group, "You all know full well it's not exactly a secret that pink haired idiot is in love with her right?"

"Juvia knew Natsu had a thing for Lucy,"

"I suppose you're right," Levy spoke to almost a whisper "But so does she."

Gajeel who was the only person close enough to hear what Levy said gave her a stern look not to repeat what she had said, but also gave her a small smile, which almost scared the poor girl.

"How do you know who I love? Not like you're one to talk!" Natsu was still being Natsu and starting to become more and more outraged at the thought of everyone knowing his not little secret, more to the point that Gray had just blabbed to their friends about his feelings,

"Calm down, it's not as if you were going to act upon them, you never do."

"Fuck you, maybe I was going to—"

"Liar," Erza said, bring Gray and Natsu to a stand still with their onslaught of words, the booth gulped when they saw the look their fiery scarlet haired friend was currently holding, along with Jellal mouthing the words of not to say a word.

"I am not!"

Jellal and Gray sighed, there was no hope for Natsu now as Erza rose to her feet from the towel she shared with Jellal and made her way towards Natsu,

"If you want to live I suggest you run," Gray spoke so only the pink haired idiot would hear, not one to ever loose his life to Erza he ran as fast as he could before Erza had a chance to grab him.

"Can we add that to the list of times Natsu was an idiot?" Gray questioned as the rest of the group watched the two friends run off in to the distance.


	10. Chapter 10

Natsu had managed to avoid a harsh tongue lashing from Erza; which to him he was not only thankful but weary of the scarlet haired woman, it was rare that she would choose harsh words and then leave so quickly.

Usually it was a tongue lashing and a harsh punch to the body.

But there was nothing but a bruised ear from the lashing of her words.

The room he shared with Lucy was awfully quiet when he walked inside it that evening, in fact the lights were all off. Had Lucy left the room?

Looking around again he noticed that everything was still pretty much in the same place it had been when he stormed off earlier that day, and this was only now adding to the worry that was building up in to him.

If Lucy had gone anywhere he would have received a message or one of the girls would have told him Lucy had got hold of them. This was out of character of her.

Or then again, was it?

After hearing what happened when he had left, he wouldn't have blame Lucy one bit for hating him just a little bit. Or even walking off to clear her mind, but he was positive that she wasn't that stupid to not tell anyone where she was going.

"Then again, I didn't exactly do that either…" He muttered to himself as he continued to look for her, only then noticing the doors to the balcony were open and a gentle breeze was allowing the sea air to float in, he noticed the small light coming from outside.

* * *

He had to stop himself there and then from yelling at her about how worried he was.

Lucy had fallen asleep at the table with her laptop screen still open; her blonde hair covered her face as she slept soundly on top of her keyboard.

At that moment Natsu couldn't help but be overwhelmed in love, even when she was sleeping she looked peaceful and radiant.

Even if she was dribbling over her keyboard she was still adorable.

Not that he would admit that in front of her, or anyone for that matter…

Especially blabber mouth Gray. The asshole.

"Hey Luce, time to wake up."

She didn't budge.

"Lucy, if you don't wake up by the time I count to five I'm deleting your work,"

"You wouldn't dare," Lucy mumbled back, sleep clearly present in her voice; Natsu smirked, knowing she would never allow her work to to be destroyed.

"1" Lucy opened one eye slowly. Still unimpressed to being woken up from her slumber.

"2"

"3" Natsu's smirk never left his face as he approached her

"I swear to god Natsu if you take one step further towards my work I will murder you in your sleep,"

"4" He ignored her and took another step,

"Natsu!"

"Luce, this is your last chance before I get to five," she was sure she noticed a playful spark in his eyes; she sighed holding her hands up in a surrender,

"Fine, fine. I'm up and now I'm going to bed, are you happy now?"

Natsu pouted, "I didn't even get to five." He then looked down towards her, her brown eyes looking at him confused.

"I wasn't going to delete your work, that would have made you pissed." Lucy snorted at him,

"I know you wouldn't have, it was an empty threat," Lucy smiled, patting him on the shoulder as she made her way back in to the warmth of their hotel room.

"But Natsu," said boy turned around as he was greeted with a murderous stare,

"Threaten to delete my novel again and you will be begging for Erza to take your life instead of the thousand deaths I will unleash on to you; if you do so that is."

"Yes mam." Natsu gulped as the blonde in front of him said it so casually; it was almost uncanny how Lucy could sometimes be as terrifying as Erza.

* * *

Working for the last few days had been blissful to say the least, she knew not everyone would have agreed, after all it was Natsu who had whined the most about her leaving the group to do work on a holiday.

But she had completed the last few chapters of her novel and since waking up as the sun rose that morning and re-read what she had typed the day before hand Lucy was comfortably pleased with herself.

"There is no way anything or anyone is going to put a damper on my day," she smiled, opening the door into the living area she shared with Natsu.

She was greeted by the sight of said boy in nothing but a towel and browsing through the tv channels.

She was positive there was a deep blush rising on to her face at the sight of him this morning. More to the point when did Natsu wake up at the crack of dawn?

"Are you going to stand there all morning and stare at me or what?"

"Shit." Shit..

* * *

"Lucy! I'm so glad you're out of your work cave!" Levy was almost too bubbly that morning at seeing the sight of her best friend at breakfast.

"Yeah, sorry. But if it helps, I've managed to finish it," Lucy smiled, waiting for the squeal that would possibly make her friend combust.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! YOU DID IT?! OH MY GOD LUCY YOU HAVE TO LET ME READ IT!"

"Calm it shrimp, it's way too early for that voice pitch to be heard," Gajeel motioned with his hands over his temples.

Natsu and Gray had opted to just cover their ears, whilst wondering as to why someone would be this excited over a book.

That hadn't been published as of yet.

Or been approved of.

It was then at that moment that both boys looked at one another and shared a look that they both agreed on.

Levy and Lucy were insane.

"What's all the noise? We could hear it from the lobby." Ezra interrupted, as she sat down at the table with three plates worth of sweet treats.

Juvia, who had been quiet the whole time since they had sat down looked over to Erza's plate, surely that amount of sweets in the morning would do terrible things for her figure?

"Why does Erza have so many sweets at this time? Surely it's not good for you?"

"Nonsense, I've eaten far more than this in a day and I've been fine. Sugar doesn't harm you."

Gajeel, Natsu and Gray looked at each other before looking back at the three plates piled hight with sweet treats in front of them,

"Clearly she has a good dentist," Gray muttered

"Or she eats so many sweets so it counters out the evil inside her," Natsu mumbled, Gajeel raised an eyebrow at clearly stupidity of his friend.

"Really? You're going with that thought?"

Natsu glared back.

"What thought?" Ezra questioned, bringing the conversation the boys were having to an instant stop.

Lucy and Levy who had heard the boys conversation held back a giggle as they noticed how stiff and rigid they all were over Erza questioning them.

"They'll never learn will they." Levy mused, causing a small snort to come from Lucy.

"We, uh, we were just talking about the food!" Gray piped up, having no idea what else he could say when caught by the scarlet devil herself.

"Yeah! We were talking about what they would be doing for lunch," said thought was now making Natsu start to salivate all over the table; Lucy sighed, the idiot she called a best friend had a one track mind when it came to food.

"But they serve the same food for lunch everyday?" Juvia piped in, a confused look on her face, the boys began to sweat.

"You know those two, once food is involved it doesn't matter how many days they've had it in a row they will still eat it." Gajeel covered, glaring at the two idiots sat beside him.

Ezra shrugged it off, satisfied with the answer.

"Speaking of the guys, you mentioned a 'we' but it was only you who came here. Where's Jellal?"

"He went to the gym this morning," no one missed the pink tinge on Erza's face as she spoke, "He said he'll meet us down on the beach after he's done."

"Bet's on Erza going back to the room once Jellal's back from the gym?" Lucy smirked, elbowing Levy beside her.

"No deal, because we both know she will." Levy teased back, which caused the girls to burst out with a fit of giggles, causing the others to look at them.

"Okay, they **really** freak me out when they do that." Gray stated.

* * *

It was surprising how full the beach was by the time the group had made their way to a suitable area; according to Erza, who had indeed left the group to head back to check on Jellal.

Nobody was fooled by the excuse she used of ' _"He could fall in the shower if he's overdone himself, he could be there right now on the floor dying!"_ '

And it was even clearer what had happened when both Erza and Jellal had arrived with a pink tinge to their faces.

* * *

"You know, I still don't understand as to why we had to move," Gajeel questioned as Erza finally made herself comfortable on the sand.

" _Clearly_ you want to become a lobster," Erza replied back, causing Gajeel to raise an eyebrow questionably,

"What the fuck are you on about? What has me being a lobster have anything to do with the fact we've been on this beach for an hour and a half and you've moved us four times to a different part of the beach,"

Ezra, who was now sitting up from lying down on her towel, frowned at Gajeel.

"In this location there is pleasant breeze present; so when the sun reaches its peak we shall still be cool whilst lying in the sun." Gajeel sighed, Erza was insane.

"There is also plenty of distance between us and the sea, so if for what ever reason _you_ and your _partners_ want to have sex, we won't hear you." Gray teased, causing both parties to blush profusely.

"Y—yes, that too," Erza stuttered, clearly embarrassed by the suggested words from Gray.

Then realised what she had just admitted to and quickly turned a blind eye towards her friends.

* * *

"Well, that took less time to become awkward than normal," Lucy rolled her eyes as she was putting sun lotion on Natsu's back.

"Yeah, it's even better when it doesn't involve us,"

Lucy stopped rubbing lotion on his back and looked at him,

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Natsu rolled over so the sun was on his front, his sunglasses hiding the playfulness in his eyes as he spoke his next words carefully.

"Nothing," he hoped she bought it.

"No, clearly there is something. I know you too well Dragneel,"

She didn't buy it.

"Everyone thinks we would have sex on this vacation."

There. He said it and it was now out in the open.

The colour had drained from her face as the sentence fell so casually out of his mouth. Natsu and sex in the same sentence was an unthinkable thing to speak of, let alone dream about.

Natsu raised his sunglasses from his face to take note of how Lucy had now established a pale look on her face whilst still holding on to the bottle of sun lotion.

Lucy was still in a her trance of what had just fallen out of Natsu's mouth, sweet, innocent Natsu.

"Hey Luce?" He began to wave a hand in front of her face,

Natsu who now looked like a god had chiselled his body out of stone.

Natsu who was still an idiot as he was all those years ago.

Natsu the guy who broke her heart.

"Lucy?" Concern began to take hold of him.

Snapping out of her trance she looked back towards Natsu who held a worried expression on his face, she was positive he must have thought she was living up to her nickname of 'weirdo.'

"Sorry, just kind of spaced out."

"Yeah, no kidding." Natsu sighed, rolling back on to his front.

* * *

"Are those two flirting?" Jellal asked as he walked up to the rest of the group, who were also watching the 'flirting' take place.

"I think so?" Levy spoke, although she still questioned Natsu's ability to even know the meaning behind the word flirting.

"Natsu's an idiot, can we just all agree on that." Gray folded his arms, knowing at some point Natsu was going mess it up.

"Juvia think's its cute. It's nice to watch those two,"

"You make that sound so creepy," Gray shivered, looking towards the girl.

"But it is. They're both dancing around their feelings, Juvia thinks it's quite sweet how both Love Rival and Natsu flirt around the subject of themselves."

"For the love of god Juvia, Lucy and I are friends."

"Juvia knows that her love and Lucy are friends, but until it's official, she is still my love rival."

A loud smack could be heard coming from Lucy and Natsu's area, the group stopped their chatter and looked over to see Natsu cradling his face.

* * *

"Why do you have to be such a jerk sometimes?!"

The group watched as Lucy got to her feet and stormed off towards the other side of the beach; it had taken all but five seconds before the girls glared at Natsu before leaving the group of guys alone to go and see to Lucy.

Natsu stared at the place his blonde friend had just been confused.

"What the hell just happened?!"

"Well, it looked like you just got your ass kicked by Lucy," Gray smirked, although he quickly turned it in to a frown,

"What on earth did you say to her to cause this?" Jellal asked, taking charge of being the calm responsible person out of the group of guys.

The guys watched as Natsu quickly turned sheepish, it was almost out of character for the bold, over excitable pink haired idiot they called a friend to act like this.

The only time he acted like that was towards Erza if she had told him off.

"I may have kind of suggested that we had sex like everyone wanted us to do…."

Three blank faces looked back at Natsu, who was now even more confused as to what the issue was.

"You are shitting me right?" Gajeel looked at the other two guys who held the same shocked expression as he had "He's actually shitting me. Right?"

"I don't think he's actually pulling on our legs. Natsu," Jellal began to speak, sighing before he spoke again, "You're an idiot."

"Spoken like a true leader," Gray responded.

* * *

"Natsu's an idiot, you should know not to take him so seriously." Levy cooed as Lucy had taken up residency on her shoulder to cry. Both Erza and Juvia had shared their shoulder to the blonde, and throughly done their duty.

"Agreed, Natsu has always been a fool. You've been exposed to his idiotic behaviour too long. Maybe we should trade rooms," Erza suggested, which caused the three other girls to blink and her,

"It's fine. I know he's an idiot." Lucy sniffed, wiping away the stray tears that had made their escape from her eyes, "But so am I,"

"Juvia is confused as to what Love Rival is suggesting. Why are you an idiot?"

"Lucy looked down at her feet, a small smile presenting itself to the group, "Because I love him."

The girls smiled knowingly back to the blonde, at last the frozen cage that had taken Lucy's heart had finally been melted; all the times the girls had taken up their duty to look out for Lucy and to comfort her as well as watching their friend build up a cage around her heart after Natsu's departure, it had all gone full circle as the one who created the cage was the one to also release it.

"You do know we've all known this since day one right?" Levy joked as she wiped some of the tears off her best friend's face.

A small laugh escaped Lucy's mouth, "Yeah, I know."


	11. Chapter 11

"Please tell me we are not going with this plan?" Lucy moaned as the group of girls had taken control of her love life.

"I don't see a problem with plan L" Erza commented, already deciding the best cause of action.

"There's the first problem.." Lucy mumbled as Juvia, Erza and Levy began throwing out ideas for their plan of action.

"Just think of it as a thank you for getting me to go out with Gajeel," Levy teased, after all if Lucy hadn't made her pay for a lunch for her now boyfriend and made her go on all those dates she was pretty sure both her and Gajeel would be dancing around the bush, which both Natsu and Lucy were currently doing.

"A normal best friend would thank their friend when they asked them to be their maid of honour, or a nice gift. Not this!" Lucy remarked, but smiled none the less at the small blush that followed on to the other girls face at the thought of marriage.

"It could have be worse Lucy, we did think the name of the plan should be titled 'get Lucy laid'." Juvia spoke up, as a small blush crept on to her pale face. It was something Lucy had always liked about the girl; she was so innocent sometimes, even if she did aways accuse Lucy as her love rival for Grey…

"Again, I didn't see a problem with that name either, but apparently it was too blunt." Ezra pipped up, "Now can we please get back to the plan?"

"And what is this plan?" Lucy asked, although she instantly regretted the words falling out of her mouth as all three girls turned and smirked in her direction.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough."

* * *

"Is is me or have the girls been acting even more crazier than normal?" Natsu questioned as the group of boys had huddled in to Gray and Juvia's hotel room to drink the beer that they had previously wondered in to town to find.

"You have a point, I was shooed out of my room by Erza and Levy earlier, something about girl time?" Jellal answered, opening another bottle and taking a sip.

"It wouldn't surprise me if they were just bitching about us," Gajeel spoke, frowning at the thought of the girls talking about him.

"Gajeel's right, they're probably moaning about us and laughing at us." Gray replied, tapping his bottle on top of Natsu's so the foam of the liquid would rise.

Natsu frowned as he watched the foam spill from the bottle and run across the table. "Asshole."

Of course though, the boys knew full well that when the girls were all situated in one place something bad was about to happen.

* * *

"Okay, Please tell me again why this is a good idea?" Lucy asked, already questioning the outfit that the girls had picked out for her.

Not that it was horrible, it was just — okay it was pretty good on her, but she wasn't about to admit that to them.

Or admit that this plan was going to fail so epically bad.

Because she valued her life.

"Like Erza said, we're going to dinner, and we're going to have a good night, promise. Nothing bad is going to happen and nothing has been planned." Levy smiled, although Lucy was sure there was a small glint in her best friend's eye.

"Sure. What ever you girls say. But I still don't understand as to why I'm dressed up and you three aren't?"

"We wanted to get you ready first, so you could go downstairs and get a table for us." Ezra replied, already taking a bag a of products to her bathroom, followed by Levy with her own belongings.

"Juvia thinks you look very pretty though,"

Lucy smiled back to her blue haired friend, "Thanks Juvia," although Juvia didn't notice the smile as she went back to her phone where it looked like she was texting Gray.

The poor guy.

* * *

Downstairs the restaurant was humming with guests eating meals and happily chatting away to one another.

Apart from Lucy; who had registered that something was up when she was seated at her table which was set for two people. Her friend's were liars.

 _I swear to god when I get back upstairs this evening I will murder you three in your sleep and make sure it's so painful you beg me to stop._

She was seething in her seat, even more so when she noticed who had also been tricked in to this little game as well.

"You're kidding me right?" she spoke through clenched teeth as she looked down at her phone that was flashing a new message

 _Sorry, but we love you!_

 _ps. the boys were in on it too ;)_

Oh there were going to be a lot of deaths happening in this hotel tonight once she was finished.

"Yo Luce, they tricked you too?" She was momentarily taken from her thoughts when she looked up to see Natsu frowning at her; although he was frowning at her in a suit no less!

"Glad to see I'm not the only gullible person to believe our friends are not up to something," she sighed, Natsu joined in with his own sigh. He should have known that the boys all gatecrashing his evening was something they had been set up to do with the girls.

"I don't understand as to why they would do this though? It's not like we don't hang out on our own with out them anyway?" Natsu questioned, causing Lucy to blush slightly, which Natsu didn't miss at all.

"They just think it would be nice if we got together, you know I think they hang out with Mira too much if I'm honest…" Lucy nervously laughed, although looking towards Natsu, he seemed to have agreed with her statement.

"Well, seeing as we're here, let's eat and charge it all on them?" A large smirk was present on his lips; clearly if he was going to go along with this plan he would gladly benefit from their generosity.

"You're playing a dangerous game Dragneel, you're going to be dealing with a pissed off Erza," she grinned back, unable to hide a smile towards her idiot of a friend in front of her; who was now drooling at the menu.

"You know, I was at least expecting them to show up you know?" Lucy questioned as both her and Natsu were midway through their main course, or at least Natsu's fourth.

Natsu looked up from feeding his bottomless stomach and raised an eyebrow, "You do know that both Erza and Jellal are sat over there right?" he pointed towards where said couple were happily enjoying their evening.

Lucy's eye began to tick; the sneaky little pair.

Although knowing Erza, there was probably a point to this - someone had to report back to the others what was happening right?

"How long have they been sitting there?"

Natsu shrugged, "Probably forty minutes? Maybe longer but I only noticed them when we were ordering our food."

Lucy let out a sigh, just typical that the pink haired god like person sat in front of her didn't mention such important information.

"Is that why you suggested we ordered everything on the menu?"

"No—well yes, but I was serious about charging it to them."

She let out a laugh, unaware that a certain scarlet haired woman was smirking at her plan slowly coming together.

* * *

"Erza, you need to stop looking over at their table, they'll clock on to us spying on them." Jellal commented as Erza leaned back to try and listen to her friend's conversation.

"But how will I know if they're making suggestive conversation? Natsu is quite stupid when it comes to romance, but I'm sure once he clocks on to it he would whisk Lucy away and have his way with her. I can't allow him to lay a finger on her just yet."

Jellal who had lost interest in the conversation midpoint, but then picked up near the end frowned at his girlfriends outrageous comment.

"Erza, again, you can not baby them anymore; you've arranged them this evening so they could have 'private time' yet you insist that nothing more than chatting can happen? What if they kiss? Are you going to ban Natsu from being anywhere near Lucy and vice versa? They both have feelings for one another and you've helped to push them in that direction, but for the love of all things Mavis, will you stop babying them?"

It was rare to see Jellal in such a passionate rant about something, but when he was in full lecture mode it was the most impressive thing to witness; even Erza herself wouldn't admit to him that she always got a little turned on when Jellal did one of those speeches, it was even more of a turn on when it was directed at her.

"I—uh—I'm sorry. You're right," a small blush present on her face as she looked back down at her menu and pretended that Jellal was not incredibly hot right now, and that she did not just want him to throw everything on the table on the floor and make love to her right there and then. No, not at all.

* * *

"I'm glad you talked me in to getting that dessert," Lucy happily smiled as they made their way back to their room. Natsu laughed whilst patting his stomach, full of four main courses and several appetisers.

All tabbed to Erza of course.

Which she still didn't know about, nor would she until they checked out in two days time.

"It wasn't hard to persuade you to get it Luce, you have the biggest sweet tooth after all, although I think Erza beats you to it with being the queen of sweets."

"Way to throw a compliment my way and then crush my dreams of being the queen of sweets…" Lucy rolled her eyes, unlocking their door and sitting down on the sofa.

"No probs Luce," there was no hiding the playful tone in his voice, and Lucy couldn't help but smirk casually at the crooked smile that her best friend showed when he was making a joke.

* * *

"What's going on in there?" Ezra asked as she and Jellal made their way back on to the floor they were all staying on.

Jellal on the other hand was bewildered by the sight that was currently taking place outside of Natsu and Lucy's room; Levy and Juvia were currently listening through the door for any signs of romantic gestures whilst Gajeel and Gray were currently playing a card game opposite the girls, clearly there because they were forced by the girls.

"Nothing so far, they've not long gone in. There's a lot of laughing and giggling going on though," Levy reported, not moving away from the door.

Juvia nodded, "It seems as if there's some flirting taking place though," Erza was quick to shove her way towards the door to rest her ear against it whilst the three boys looked towards them sighing.

"It's going to be a long evening, so you may as well join us," Gray remarked, making a space for Jellal to sit down with him and Gajeel.

"I just hope for the sake of my sanity and actually getting some sleep tonight that dickface makes a move on bunny girl," the boys nodded in agreement as more whispers from the girls took place.

* * *

"Did you hear something?" Natsu asked, looking towards the front door, Lucy followed his eyes and shrugged,

"If there was a noise I'm pretty sure we would have heard it. You're probably hearing things; after all you're probably in the biggest food coma right now," she remarked, getting comfy on the sofa again and curling her fingers around a glass of gin and tonic.

"I suppose, you're righ—Hey! I've had bigger headaches then this!"

"I'm kidding Natsu! Take a joke once in a while," Lucy giggled, pleased with her comment. Natsu on the other hand sighed, blowing a small amount of air up, which pushed his hair on his face up a small amount.

Lucy sat there, smirking at her friend becoming more aggravated by her jibs.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you're currently struggling to digest your meal," she could have sworn she saw vein pop on Natsu's head, but he just sat there smirking to himself.

This was it, this was the point at which Natsu had officially become a mad man.

It had finally happened.

"Right, that's it! Enough of the jabs at me!"

"What are you doing?" Lucy screeched, her voice going a lot higher than what she wanted it to be.

Natsu moved closer on to the sofa, closing the gap between himself and Lucy, taking hold of the drink she was currently nursing and placed it on the table in front of them.

"I'm dealing out your punishment," the glint in his eyes present, Lucy braced herself as Natsu got closer and began to tickle her sides.

"Oh god! Natsu no! please—" she never got to finish that sentence as she rolled off the sofa laughing hard as Natsu carried on his assault of tickling her sides.

* * *

"What the fuck is going on in there?" Gray questioned, as the guys had stopped playing card games and looked over to where the girls had begun to hold confused and questionable faces.

"It seems as if they're moving quickly? I can only hear Lucy laughing," Levy confirmed,

"They could be wrestling! Lucy could be in danger!"Erza presumed, she was about to barge in to the room when Juvia and Levy held her down, pleading with the boys to help them.

"If she was in trouble she would be calling for help," Jellal reminded them, causing Erza to stop her thrashing and becoming calm and collective.

"Yes, you're right, how stupid of me to jump to such silly conclusions. Natsu wouldn't do that."

"Help me!"

The group watched as Erza reinstated her previous actions of making her way towards the door only for them to jump back on to her.

* * *

"Okay! Okay! I give up! You win!" Lucy breathed as she tried to fight off the last of the giggles that tried to escape her.

Natsu held a smirk as he sat on top of Lucy tickling her sides lightly. He had to admit, seeing her in this state of bliss was quite pleasing.

Maybe he had a little too much at dinner to be thinking that?

Although his body didn't think so as he leaned in closer to her, he could almost taste her lips as he moved closer; his hands at her sides stopping themselves from tickling and instead they stilled.

Lucy had noticed that the air around them had changed from playful to an air of passion. She had also noticed that the tickling on her sides had stopped, instead it was replaced with the heat from Natsu's hands, warm, delicious heat.

Maybe she had a little too much at dinner?

Maybe that last gin and tonic had pushed her brain in to making the gap smaller between her lips and his; she could now smell the last meal Natsu had devoured, even the drink he washed it down with.

They were so close.

"Knock, knock!"

The moment ruined.


	12. Chapter 12

"Ah, I see we were interrupting something…" Erza blushed as she was greeted with Natsu frowning so hard they thought he could combust at any moment.

"Not at all." Lucy called from inside, trying her best to calm the situation as well as to calm her fast beating heart and racing mind.

"Oh. Well in that case we thought we would inform you that we were planning on exploring more of the town tomorrow if you two want to tag along." Ezra responded, ignoring the growing rise in tension between the group and Natsu.

"I'm sure we will be there. We'll meet at breakfast tomorrow," Natsu spoke through gritted teeth, trying his best not to punch Erza in the face for ruining a moment which he was sure he wasn't going to be repeating any time soon tonight.

Or ever for that matter.

Ezra nodded, before leaving Natsu to stew in his frustration and taking the rest of the group with her with a stern look.

The door was closed, locked and then the sound of Natsu repeatedly banging his head against it was heard as they walked towards their rooms.

* * *

" _Fuck_ " Natsu muttered as he turned around and saw nothing but an empty room and a closed door towards Lucy's room.

This holiday away was suppose to be relaxing; not piling on the stress of figuring out what he wanted in life, or more to the point trying to figure out what Lucy was to him.

He walked towards Lucy's end of the room before attempting to knock on her door, but he thought better of it. After all they had just almost kissed, something even he himself didn't think would ever happen to them.

"Great, back to fucking square one again. Cheers Erza," he sighed as he decided against knocking and made his way back to his room to sulk.

* * *

" _Someone,_ not naming names here, _Juvia."_ Gray frowned, looking over to the blue haired woman in question who was looking at anyone but Gray, "Made Erza realise that you guys could be damaging the furniture in there. She would like to go back home knowing she has a job to go back to…" Gray explained as Natsu snorted through his nose at the thought.

"Juvia is so sorry," it was barely a whisper but Natsu heard it. Sighing he couldn't blame Juvia, it wasn't _all_ her fault.

He wouldn't let it ruin the friendship they had, okay so it was a weird friendship they shared, but it was a friendship he valued. One that entitled him to have gasoline to add to the fire pit that was Gray's love life.

"It's okay Juvia, there's no hard feelings, it was probably best anyway that you guys barged in."

The table looked at the pink haired idiot in front of them; even Gajeel was a little surprised by Natsu - although that idiot always had a way of surprising him with his ridiculousness.

Just like right now.

"What the fuck?"

"Gajeel, don't" Levy placed her hand on his arm to grab his attention away from picking on something that didn't involve him.

"Are you really saying that you're just fine with this whole thing with bunny girl?" Natsu frowned,

"No, but what else can I do right now? She's upstairs, probably feeling as shitty as me right now."

"Don't say that. Lu has had a lot of problems and worries niggling at her for the last few years." Levy began to say before she quickly stopped herself, forgetting that it was only the girls who had an inkling of what Lucy had been dealing with the last four years.

"Are you going to finish that sentence or are you going to leave us all in the dark?" Gray asked, which caused both Juvia and Levy to flinch,

"It's not really my story to tell," Levy quickly responded, thanking what ever god who was watching her right now for not spilling the beans.

"Levy is right. It's neither any of our stories that should be shared with out the main character present." Juvia replied, causing a chorus of sighs from the boys.

"But Natsu, I would strongly suggest you go and speak to Lucy, I don't care how you do it, but you have to talk to her. Don't let her bottle herself up again, I don't think us girls can watch her go through that ever again." Levy spoke as the group began to stand from their table and make their way to the cars they had rented out.

He sighed, knowing full well the girls were right. It was always something the guys never wanted to admit to the girls they grew up with; the fact they always knew what was right, and always knew what was needed.

It was something each guy had refused to admit out loud to the girls, but all quickly agreed when it came to being around another guy.

"Okay, I'll go and talk to her; do you think you guys could hold on for a little while longer before we make a move?"

Juvia and Levy smiled to one another, "Sure, we're still waiting on Erza and Jellal anyway."

"I'll knock on their door when I go up, make them hurry up," Natsu smirked, causing the guys to hold back their laughter whilst the girls held blushes,

"You do know she's going to kill you right?" Gray commented,

"Leave him be, it would be nice to have some peace and quiet," Gajeel smirked, as he always loved it when others were always willing to tackle the red she devil of Erza Scarlet and failing miserably.

* * *

Lucy was happily submerged in to a hot bath filled with bubbles which tickled her nose if she lowered her head anymore.

It was something she always did when she had to think, or was planing another story or chapter. In some ways it helped her relax and in others it helped her produce the best work she had done.

Although right now her mind was running all over the place, back and forth between her novel and what had happened last night.

She couldn't determine wether it was the alcohol with her body or the fact she was wanting Natsu to kiss her there and then and have his way with her.

The thought of it made her blush to a deep red.

"Stupid Lucy and stupid Natsu."

"What have I done now?"

A loud scream could be heard through out the building.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Gajeel questioned as he and Gray had gone back to the bar and grabbed another round of soft drinks for the group whilst they waited on the last two pairs.

Gray, who was used to the display that had penetrated his ears smiled knowingly, "Just Natsu being a dick."

* * *

"What the fucking hell are you doing in here!?" Lucy screamed a few pitches higher as she tried to get back what dignity she had left,

"Ow Luce," Natsu stuck a finger in his ear as he sat down on the toilet lid making sure he wasn't bleeding from his ears.

"Seriously though, I'm pretty sure that door was locked," Lucy calmly replied, finally arranging the bubbles in a place that would hide some of her most intimate parts.

She had to admit to herself, even though it looked like something was troubling the guy in front of her she still thought he looked pretty hot.

And there were the stupid thoughts flooding her mind again.

"I just thought I would come and talk, and possibly say sorry."

Lucy cocked her head, "Sorry? For what? You haven't been snooping in my underwear drawers like you used to when we were younger have you?"

A chuckle escaped his mouth as he remembered clearly the amount of times he would do that and how there was always a huge blush present on Lucy's face as she would catch him and then throw him out of her room.

"Nah, nothing like that. Promise," he grinned at her, which she managed to mirror back; strange when you're sitting in the bathtub completely naked and there you are laughing with your best friend.

"I just thought I would say sorry for last night, and possibly for anything else I've done to hurt you."

This had to be a dream right now, it was rare that Natsu Dragneel ever apologised for something, it was sort of like witnessing a blue moon.

"That's, that's uh, that's okay" she couldn't believe how she was hearing this. Natsu Dragneel saying sorry.

"I didn't even know that word was in your vocabulary" she teased back, trying to make the room feel less stifling, she noticed the small smile cross his features.

"I mean it though, Levy kind of had a word with me about you," his face turned more serious, "What have I missed these last couple of years? I want a truthful answer as well Heartfillia."

Oh shit, he never used her last name unless it was serious, and even then it was always her first name.

She gulped, where did she even begin in this mess of tangles and knots?

* * *

"It seems we beat Natsu and Lucy down," Jellal mentioned as he and Erza found the rest of the group still sat at the bar.

"It would seem that way, unless Lucy is trying to pursued Natsu to get in the car," Jellal added, a small smile graced Erza's lips as she pictured it.

"Perhaps, but that doesn't explain why the rest are just sat here,"

"Yo," Gray waved as Erza and Jellal walked up to them.

"Who would have thought you could tame the beast that long," Gajeel smirked as he only made sure the guys could hear his words.

"I would reframe from repeating that around Erza," Jellal smirked back, sitting between them, as the other two guys watched as Erza raised an eyebrow towards them, clearly wondering as to why her boyfriend held such an expression on his face.

"We thought Natsu and Lucy would be down with you guys already?" Ezra questioned, causing four pairs of eyes to dart off in a different direction and looking away from Erza,

"Spill."

It was at that moment that Juvia, Gray and Gajeel all pushed Levy's stool in front of Erza, making her the group speaker.

"Natsu's gone up to talk to Lu, he said to wait for them as they shouldn't be too long; but that was an hour ago…" Levy replied, feeling a bit braver now as she looked Erza in the eyes.

"I see. Well we shall wait a little longer, after all it's not just a holiday for us, but for them as well."

The group sighed with relief.

* * *

"Where would you like me to begin?" Lucy asked, as she fiddled with bubbles in front of her.

"The beginning is always a good place," Natsu replied, looking at her in the eyes; which only amplified the butterflies inside Lucy as she began to wrack her brains on how she was going to explain everything to him.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, maybe if she closed her eyes she would be able to talk. Agreeing with herself that would be in fact the best plan as she wouldn't have to watch Natsu's expressions change rapidly, because she knew he would do that.

"You really hurt me Natsu." She began, sighing as she began her long tale, "I thought we were best friends, best friends who told each other everything. The day you left I was a mess," a small smile crept on to her face thankful that she had amazing friends around her.

"God, I really was a mess that day; I was about to make my way to your place; I had built myself up that I was going to tell you something important, something that would probably change the dynamics of us. But you know something? I chickened out on the way to yours and stopped at Mira's for a drink, or several…" She opened her eyes now, and stole a quick glance in his direction, his face was still and held no emotion.

The Natsu Dragneel poker face.

"It was kind of funny in a way, because once I got brave enough to leave the bar I received the text that everyone else had at the same time. I finally became brave enough to want to have a serious conversation with you and you, Mr Natsu Dragneel decided to be the cowered and jet off to all these beautiful destinations."

Another glance and she saw exactly what she was expecting; the painful realisation that hit him.

"In a way I'm glad you're did what you did." She spoke softly, a small smile graced her face as she looked over to him. "Because in some sense it allowed me to become a little stronger than what I was. Heck, I'm sure I was a mess for everyone who cared for me, I was in such a dark place that first year, I hardly spoke to anyone and pretty much locked myself away from happiness."

Natsu looked at her, there was no tears running from her face, she was right, she had become stronger. The Lucy he knew would have allowed a few tears to fall from her face, but then again he didn't know wether she was allowing herself not to cry or wether she was just waiting for him to leave so she could.

"But I came out of that darkness, after that first year I got back to writing, I found a publisher who was interested, who knew someone would love my stories more than Levy?" A small giggle escaped her lips, "In fact it couldn't of happened at a better time, after the first year away and not even hearing a word from you I was pretty sure you weren't coming back for a while. So what better way to distract myself from you than to do something that I love doing? After all, someone had to carry on having adventures and I'm glad that you did," the smile was genuine on her face as she looked at him with her sweet brown eyes, something that he had missed all those years.

"I—"

"Shh, I'm still talking," Lucy gave a warm smile as she picked up a handful of bubbles and examined them. "Do you know what bothered me about you leaving though? The fact I thought our friendship actually meant something. Not once did I receive a text or an email, there was no word from you at all. In fact I was pretty sure you may have left your phone at the airport or something." She giggled again, before a small smile stayed on her face, "But I knew that was a stupid thought. I experienced some dark times; whilst you were off enjoying yourself, I was left in a miserable place where I thought I would never see light again in my life. At one point I hated you Natsu, I blamed you for putting me in that darkness, I blamed you for so many things, which I shouldn't of, because it was my fault I reached those dark places and forgot what it was like to be living in the light." She choked a little on her words, she promised to herself she would never allow those feelings and thoughts to surface.

Not even little Levy knew the half of it.

Natsu gulped, Levy had given him a hint that Lucy had been suffering, but he never imagined it to be this bad. The Lucy he knew had a sad moments, but she was always back on her feet in no time, it was what made everyone love her, the fact that she brought in the light to whatever darkness you were facing.

Yet, when it was her turn the one person that could have turned it all around was enjoying tropical locations and a holiday of a lifetime.

"Luce," he stood from his seat and kneeled down beside the bath tub and rested his chin on the edge of the tub, "I am truely, from the bottom of my heart so sorry."

He saw a crinkle in her eye as she smiled to herself at his words, his Lucy was slowly twinkling in the light again.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, you're here right? That's all that matters to me, the fact that I'm having a holiday with such special people in my life and that's all I care about right now."

"But I'm the most important right?" There was a playful look in his eye as she looked at him,

"Sure you asshat. Sharing this holiday with you is better than being the odd wheel of the group."

The both laughed, both feeling like the stuffy atmosphere was slowly shifting and instead the sun was shining.

"Speaking of the others, I told them to wait up for us, so you best make yourself look decent." Natsu remembered, as it dawned on him that they had been sat in the bathroom for a while now.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

"I feel like we should really go up there and see what's going on. That's the second time we've heard Lucy scream." Levy replied as the group were slowly relaxing more in to the furniture.

"Like I said to Gajeel, I'll say it again. Natsu is just being a dick." Gray replied, taking a sip from

* * *

"So, what happened?" Levy whispered to Lucy as they walked with linked arms to the top of the little mountain that Erza had suggested they explored that afternoon.

"We just talked, nothing more, nothing less." It was a brief reply, but there was nothing else to add to it. Levy didn't need to know that there were a few tears on her side, nor did she need to know that Natsu was in the same space as her naked self at the time.

"Are you okay though? You've been a little withdrawn since we've exited the car,"

Lucy nodded, thankful that her friend cared so much, "I'm fine, honestly. Better than those two idiots."

They both turned around and noticed both Gajeel and Natsu representing pale faces that told the story of how ill the car ride made them.

"We're almost at the top," Erza called from in front, of course she had to lead the way, it was her idea after all. And the fact she wouldn't allow anyone to take charge.

"I hope to god there's some fucking shade up there, or a lake, or something cold." Gray moaned, already shirtless and hiking his way past the girls.

"Juvia heard it has amazing views of the whole resort, but I'm not sure about something cold," she replied as she picked up the discarded shirt of Gray's.

"Lucy, carry me to the top," Natsu moaned as his stomach still hadn't adjusted to being out of reach from transport.

"We're almost there, you can make it Natsu,"

"Pleeeeeeeeeeease Luce," he begged, knowing full well he was pushing his luck.

She sighed, becoming irritated by her idiot of a best friend. Okay so she allowed him back in the best friend spotlight, but she wasn't about to admit that to him just yet.

"Natsu —" before she knew it Natsu had closed their distance and latched himself over her so she could drag him up the hill.

"When we reach the top of this stupid mountain you best hope there's no lake up there," she seethed, as Natsu became a dead weight on her back, "Because if there is, I'm going to drown your sorry ass."

He couldn't help the small snigger that escaped him, as he heard her empty threat.

* * *

Lucy had to give Erza her well deserved credit for the afternoon hike. The reward was so worth it as the group all lazily lay on the warm grass that situated on the top.

There was indeed a spectacular view that surrounded them, Lucy couldn't help herself but to snap a few pictures of the landscape, it was breathtaking. The view perfectly over looked the beach and the blanket of sea water that made the resort so beautiful; in the distance you could just make out the top of the hotel and just a little further in eye sight was the beautiful little town.

She was also thankful that Natsu hadn't broken her back the rest of the way up; the said pink haired idiot was currently sat down on the grass enjoying the suns rays hitting him.

She couldn't help but blush at the sight of him, and that had truly bothered her.

"You wouldn't be spying on a certain pink haired guy would you?" Levy smirked as she noticed her best friend was openly staring at their friend.

Lucy frowned whilst trying to lessen the already bright blush on her face, "No, what makes you suggest that?"

"Well, you've been gawking at him for the last two minutes, one would assume you've been wondering —" Lucy quickly placed her hand over the little bluenette's mouth

"Do not finish that sentence."

Levy chuckled.

"This is a perfect spot for lunch, even if I do say so myself." Ezra congratulated herself, which caused the rest of the group to sigh, she was always so modest.

"Can we eat now? I'm starving." Natsu moaned, holding his stomach as if he had never been fed in his life. Lucy rolled her eyes at the pathetic sight of her best friend.

"You ate like a pig before we even left."

Natsu sat up from basking in the rays to look at Lucy, "So? I worked up an appetite," he shrugged.

"I carried you the rest of the way up this fucking hill…"

A large grin made its way on to Natsu's face, he had to admit that their bickering right now reminded him of their younger selves; he could feel that Lucy was letting him off the hook slowly, he couldn't blame her for acting and feeling like she had towards him.

Hell, he would be just the same if she had done the exact same to him; and even more so he was thankful that Gray and Gajeel had never mentioned anything to the girls about him, nor that they knew where he was.

"Fine, so I slacked a little bit. Doesn't mean I'm not about to eat like a pig _and_ eat your leftovers too," he smirked as he watched her reaction turn to a frown.

"Over my dead body," she muttered, knowing he probably heard her.

"If you two are done with your flirting, we're about to eat," Gray commented, a large smirk plastered to his face as he watched both Natsu and Lucy turn their gaze to the rest of the group and frown,

"We are not flirting!" They both shouted back.

"They were totally flirting," Levy spoke dryly to the rest of the group as she took a bite out of her sandwich.


	13. Chapter 13

"You know, as much as I have loved this holiday I'm glad we're heading home today," Lucy spoke as she stretched her arms high that morning.

It had been Erza's decision to leave at the crack of dawn, not that anyone else was surprised by this plan.

"Yeah, I've missed the shop so much," Levy smiled, pulling her suitcase along the corridor to where the others were already waiting.

"I don't see how you could have missed the shop when you brought half the fucking shop with you," Gajeel moaned; it was true, Levy did bring a few books along for the trip, it also explained so much to Gajeel as to why her suitcase was so heavy.

And why his arms wanted to fall off every time he lugged it along.

"I needed some entertainment whilst we were here,"

"Was I not good enough entertainment?" His smirk ever present.

Both Levy and Lucy's face had turned a brilliant shade of red at Gajeel's comment; he knew full well that Levy wouldn't be able to pull out a snarky comeback, nor would she be willing to admit that they had a _lot_ of fun behind their closed door.

"Lucy, Levy, your faces are red, are you okay?" Juvia asked as she noticed the two friends joining the rest of them whilst Gajeel held a large smirk across his face.

"Yeah…It's just the heat getting to us." Lucy quipped back before Gajeel could speak.

Juvia raised a delicate eyebrow at her reply, "But Juvia noticed it was raining outside."

"It's quite humid though wouldn't you say? Maybe a storm is arriving?" Levy quickly spoke, the colour of red still present on her face.

Juvia thought about it for a brief moment before she too agreed that maybe it was a little warm.

Or maybe it was because she was standing so close to her 'love'.

"Now that we're all here, shall we discuss travel?" Ezra asked as the group turned to face her.

"What are you on about woman? We've got travel, we use the same guys who brought us here to take us back? I don't understand why you're suggesting anything else." Gajeel complained.

"I'm with Gajeel on this, I've already established that I'm going to be on this long boring ass car ride back to Magnolia feeling like a baboon with a rough ass. I refuse to take any other transport back." Natsu piped in. A serious look on his face.

Something that Lucy hadn't seen in a long time. But she saw the stern look which Erza was currently wearing, obviously she knew both Gajeel and Natsu would challenge her. And both were about to feel her wrath.

"And how do you suggest we get hold of them? Considering they're a Magnolia based company?" The boys knew she was instigating her challenge, and it was only a matter of time before one of them took the bait.

"The phone?"

The group sighed; Natsu Dragneel: the pink haired idiot who knew how to piss off a red head.

* * *

"Ow," Natsu moaned as the group stood outside in the rain whilst the two taxi drivers loaded the luggage in to their cars.

"Serves you right," Gray smirked, still amused by Erza throwing Natsu in to the nearest and closest wall that would hurt him.

"I still don't see why I was the one to get hurt in this shit, Gajeel was part of it too!" Natsu moaned, looking at anything but the cars that were about to take him home.

"Because I'm not an idiot." Gajeel was heard, although it was mostly mumbled as said guy was slowly turning a shade of green.

"If anything, can we please just leave all the arguing until we reach our own homes? Because I'm tired and frankly the little shut eye I'm about to endure is going to be all I'll be getting until I reach my bed." Lucy remarked, already hiding a yawn behind her hand.

"To be honest Luce, you look ready for bed already," Natsu commented.

It was true, Lucy had packed the previous night and had begged Natsu to stay quiet if he went out. Only because she wanted to guarantee herself some shut eye before embarking on this disastrous homeward bound journey.

It was also her own plan to wear her most comfiest clothes home, which involved a large baggy white t-shirt and a pair of peach coloured shorts which were just visible below her t-shirt.

In fact, the more the others noticed, the more it looked like Lucy was wearing nothing but the t-shirt.

"I at least want to be comfortable in this car than trying to get comfy, idiot." Lucy frowned.

Ezra placed her hand on Lucy's shoulder, breaking the conversation instantly, "Girls in one, boys in the other."

They had completely forgotten about the cars that were currently holding the drivers who were at that moment in time staring at the group in front of them, probably wondering how on earth they managed to deal with the crazy group.

Or that's what Lucy thought as she picked her small hand luggage and made her way in the car with Levy and Juvia either side of her.

At least she knew if Erza was in the front she would be prone to talk to the driver for the duration of the way home - which would help greatly in lulling her to sleep.

The boys on the other hand were less than pleased with the girls all being in one car, there was going to be more than likely embarrassing stories being told that they didn't want mentioned.

And the fact that both Jellal and Gray had to share the car back with the queasy twins.

Said 'queasy twins' were currently turning a darker shade of green, whilst both throwing out colourful language the closer they both got to their seats.

It was already turning in to an eventful trip back and they hadn't even moved.

* * *

They were so close to reaching their goal of being back in Magnolia; Lucy had been pleased with herself that she had managed to get a little bit of sleep, it wasn't much, but none the less it was better than having nothing.

She had woken though to the sound of Erza talking to someone on the phone, and going by the tone on the other side it was male and sounded awfully like Jellal.

"What's going on?" Lucy nudged Juvia who was listening to music on her phone, the blue haired woman shrugged.

"Juvia decided to listen to music whilst Erza and Jellal spoke, it sounded _personal._ "

"Personal? I suppose it would make sense, those two are very secretive about their relationship. Most of the time." Lucy replied, only then to notice that Erza was watching them from the car mirror.

Both girls gulped.

"I'm glad you're both awake, Jellal's been telling me how Gray and Natsu have been causing issues in their car."

"He's bullshitting you!" Natsu called from the other line, Erza closed her eyes whilst resisting the urge to ask the driver to pull over so she could hit their friend.

"You are in enough trouble as it is, I suggest you refrain from adding to that Natsu." Lucy called back, although it went on deaf ears as Natsu continued to add more and more reasons why it would be such a good idea to pull over.

"I also don't understand why you're telling us this? They're not our responsibility!" Lucy remembered as Natsu and Gray continued to throw insults to one another.

"Juvia thinks it's nice that she's responsible for Gray," said woman blushed, causing Lucy to unleash a sigh.

* * *

She didn't know how Erza had kept her composure through out the rest of the journey home, in fact it was almost scary how the scarlet haired maiden had reframed from causing bodily harm to Natsu when they reached her home.

Lucy stifled a yawn which tried to escape her as she pulled her luggage towards her. Even though she had just embraced a long car ride home, all she wanted to do was to go home and sit down.

It was amazing how much a holiday could take it out of you.

"So we'll be at Mira's later on?" Natsu suggested, to which the group of tired humans all managed to spring back to life again at the thought of alcohol.

Her friends were secret alcoholics, she swore.

"I'm out, there is a hot bubble bath and a bed calling my name," Lucy yawned again. Natsu raised an eyebrow at her, unimpressed.

"No dice Luce, you're coming out."

"Why can't you take no for an answer? I'm tired," her eyebrow ticked.

"And you've just come back from a holiday, what better way to celebrate being home than going to Mira's?" Natsu added, he was refusing to let this drop.

"You only want to 'celebrate' because you're no longer in a moving vehicle," there was a smirk on his face at her words. Of course it was no secret that he hated being anywhere that involved transportation, hell even Gajeel was on his side with that argument.

Planes.

Cars.

Trains.

Anything that moved was enough to bring bile to his throat at the mention of riding a vehicle.

Which was why it was such a questionable thing to wonder why he would get on a plane to travel.

There was an answer to that: a lot of alcohol.

"Who doesn't? That was the most tediously bored I've been in a long time, there was no one to talk to _and_ I was in a vehicle."

"Fuck you asshole." Gray commented, already annoyed at the fact he was 'un-talkative'.

"We are a fucking _hoot_ you hear me? A _HOOT_." Jellal added, Erza smirked at her lover's choice of words.

"I'm with both these idiots, I'll think you'll find that it was you who was the one no one wanted to talk to on the way home." Gajeel spoke, picking up Levy's bags after he watched her climb in to the boot of the car to kick her luggage out.

"Bull." Natsu huffed,

"Actually, you informed us not to talk to you because you would 'cover us in a sea of chunks,'" Gray air-quoted, much to the girls dismay at the visions they were currently picturing.

"Well, you started it by telling the guy to try and over take the girls," Natsu defended, which caused Levy and Lucy to giggle quietly,

"So that explains why you over took us at one point," Erza questioned, a frown forming on her face.

"Either way, can we fucking stop this now and make our way to Mira's bar? There's a shit ton of liquid that needs to be in my liver." Natsu protested as he began pushing Lucy in the direction.

"I didn't say I was going you asshat!"

* * *

"Natsu is an asshat and I hate him," Lucy grumbled to herself as she crawled her way to the bathroom in her home.

She was sure she was still partially drunk from the previous night, which was why she was currently gripping her floor in hopes that she didn't throw up.

And the fact that she was pretty sure if she stood up gravity would push her over again.

"I also hate Mira, fuck you Mira."


	14. Chapter 14

The late afternoon rays of light dribbled through the blinds of Lucy's home, it had been a quiet and peaceful few days for her as she settled back in to a routine of reading a few books and then starting up a plan for the next few chapters of a new story.

It had been almost a month and a half since the holiday with her group of weirdos, as she liked to call them, and even though they had spent three weeks in each others company it seemed as if they couldn't shake one another off each other.

It was more the case of Natsu dragging them to nights at Mira's, although it was always a shove through the door for her she had to admit that the nights with her friends always ended up being just what she needed.

Minus the horrible hangover the next morning.

It had also been just over three weeks since Lucy received a lengthy phone call from her publisher over her finished novel.

The book had gone down well in meetings, and thus led to her book being published later next year. Of course Lucy couldn't help but not show a smile every time she thought about how her hard work had finally been rewarded; all the shitty essays she had to write at school and even her dissertation at university had all in some way helped her achieve something she was proud of.

Now all Lucy had to do was tell people; and that was where she was currently situating herself.

She knew Levy would and should be the first person to be informed, hell if it wasn't for her little blue haired friend reading little snippets from time to time she was sure that she wouldn't be publishing her first book.

But alas, here she was.

 _beep_

A text message had awoken her from her inner battle, thankful for the distraction she looked at the message

 _Mira's in half an hour? Gajeel and Gray are still working so Juvia and I are requesting your company!_

Well, no time like the present then.

* * *

"I can't believe you've held this knowledge in for so long! Three weeks?! I would be screaming it from the hills!" Levy beamed as Lucy came back with drinks,

"I know, but I didn't believe it for myself. I've been in a weird bubble over it and I swear every morning I have to pinch myself that it's real."

"Juvia is so excited!"

Lucy smiled at both her friends; she held on to them so dearly when she needed them the most, she had always been friends with Levy, ever since they were in the same tutor group and English classes together. And Juvia had been a new girl in their class during the new term.

Their strange friendship had blossomed over the years, even though Juvia had a fascination with Gray, she knew if there was ever a moment she needed Juvia the girl would be with her in seconds.

Of course the same went for Erza, she would always come to the door with sweets and a cake, wether it was for her or even Lucy, she still didn't know and either way loved the gesture.

"I'm so terrible for not telling either of you, hell I haven't told anyone this." Lucy sighed, stirring her drink with a straw.

"It's understandable, and I'm sure the others wouldn't mind." Levy replied, a smile on her face as she tapped her glass on the side of Lucy's.

"I'm surprised Natsu hasn't blabbed about it though."

Lucy's face frowned, "He doesn't know either." In fact, she hadn't even seen the pink haired idiot much, only when he would drag them out to destroy their livers.

"But you two have been stuck like glue ever since he's been back, what's changed?" Juvia asked, a little worried.

Lucy shrugged, how was she suppose to answer a question she didn't even know the answer to?

Yes her and Natsu had spent a lot of time around one another, but nothing ever developed, even on the holiday nothing happened.

Although this didn't hide the pink dusting on her cheeks as she remembered a small minor detail she never told the girls.

"Spill Heartfillia." Levy spoke. "You don't just blush for no reason, there's something you're not telling us isn't there?"

"N—no!" She spat, although she knew her face was turning a darker shade.

Both girls leaned in, knowing she was about to snap and spill.

Lucy refused to look either in the eye and stared hard at her drink whilst taking a sip from the straw.

"Okay, fine." Both Juvia and Levy grinned, whilst Lucy looked up and frowned, trust her friends to get the better of her. "Remember the night that Erza knocked on our door? Just before that Natsu and I were close to, well, we were close."

"Close to what?" Natsu asked as he leaned on Lucy's seat causing all three girls to splutter their drinks and souls.

"Close to throwing our drinks in your face," Lucy squeaked out as she turned around and looked up at his face. "And what the hell have you been up to?" She pulled in to disgust.

"What do you mean?"

"Your face? It's sweaty and in fact I'm pretty sure it's you I can smell right now." Lucy replied, her neck starting to ache at looking up at his stupid, sweaty face.

Which also looked pretty god-like.

And there was a small bead of sweat trickling down his neck…

Okay, so he smelt a little off, but at that moment she had never wished so hard to be that tiny bead of sweat running down Natsu's body.

Lucy pulled her thoughts away from the gutter as Natsu smirked at her, she wasn't exactly subtle when it came to checking him out.

Nor was he the more he thought about it.

"Gray and Gajeel offered me some time at the gym," he shrugged casually, "Now that it's been expanded and shit they said I could run a few classes and shit."

"So you're now working with tweedle dee and tweedle dumb?" Lucy asked, a small smile escaped her as she watched Natsu snort at Gajeel and Gray's names.

"Yeah, I suppose. Beats sitting at home all the time."

Lucy raised an eyebrow at him, "You've been lounging around this whole time?"

A sheepish look took over Natsu "Maybe a little? I've been looking."

"Yeah, not hard enough though." Gray added in as he brought over Natsu's drink frowning.

"Gray!" Juvia pipped up, excited to see her prince charming coming towards her, be it he was giving Natsu he's drink, but she would add this to her littler Gray moments inside her memory.

"Fuck off Princess, adding me to your little sweaty gym party is an amazing thing. Think of all the classes."

"And the headaches," Gajeel muttered so that the girls were the only ones to hear it.

"What classes would you be running anyway?" Levy asked, of course, she was still a supportive member of the gym that her friends ran. It was nice to be able to go somewhere that you actually knew people, and the fact Gajeel would offer her discount lessons.

Lessons that involved a lot of body movements.

And perfect timings.

Gajeel nudged her, a large grin spread on his face, "You already have a personal trainer, you don't want that shit head as yours, trust me."

"I'm petty sure you don't even charge her anymore," Gray commented, smirking in to his drink as he saw Gajeel frown at him and give him a subtle middle finger in his direction.

"I'm pretty sure it would be classed as prostitution if it carried on," Lucy teased. She was allowed to tease her best friend, and it was all the more rewarding when Gajeel spat his drink out whilst Levy had turned the darkest shade of red she'd ever seen.

"How—?"

"I have my ways Levy," Lucy winked, "I have connections. And I'm not going to lie, you're not exactly secretive about it."

She had noticed that the all intimidating big guy, Gajeel wasn't looking at her, causing her to smile. It was a tough job to get Gajeel embarrassed, which was why it was even more satisfying to tease the both of them.

Levy withheld from commenting back anything that would further prove to the rest of their friends that they were doing exactly what they thought.

Of course, it was only a little teasing, but none the less the conversation soon turned back round towards the boys.

"Speaking of your gym boys. What exactly has changed?" Lucy asked, not that she was interested in going back any time soon.

After her traumatic time with Levy doing yoga she had been repulsed, especially as she saw how open people were in the changing rooms about being naked and it in fact added to the list of reasons why she would never enter a foot inside a gym ever again.

And the fact that she swore she was getting more than eye full from one elderly lady who Levy had told her was a regular member.

The thought made her shudder.

"We expanded outside a little bit, so there's now an outside cafe lounge area. There's also the outdoor swimming pool, which we will be running classes all year round." Gray informed, if Lucy knew better she would have thought with the smug grin on his face that it had been Gray's idea.

"So it's heated then?" Levy commented, to which the boys nodded.

"Gajeel's also updated the weight rooms, because it was hell in the summer with so many bodies lingering and working out in there, it smelt as bad as Natsu's gym bag I swear." Gray smirked, to which Natsu huffed.

"And what about the indoor pool you had? Juvia loved swimming in there when it was evening," Juvia questioned, although everyone knew the only reason she was in the pool was because every now and again Gray would be teaching a swimming class or he would be life guarding.

"It's still there. Don't worry you're pretty little head." Gray patted the blue haired girl, who in response let out a squeak at the sudden touch from her love.

Gray touching Juvia hadn't gone unnoticed by the others, who in return showed confused faces, then again, both Gray and Juvia were a little strange.

"Anyway, going back to the gym. Do you wanna be my first customer Luce?" Natsu asked as he nudged in to said blonde.

She was mid way through sipping her drink when it flew back out,

"Geez, you're shit at drinking lately," Natsu teased, causing Lucy to fumble with her drink as she went through what Natsu had just asked her.

"What made you come out with something like that?"

"Well, you always moan that your book is always holding you up, and well being at the gym we'd see more of each other. And you can punch me in the face." Natsu sheepishly laughed at the last part.

"I don't moan—"

"You do. You oh so do." Gray butted in, with the others nodding at her.

It was at that exact moment that Lucy had wished she had better friends than the ones she currently called her friends.

"Okay, I get it, I like to moan about my life," she sighed, "But I don't see why you'd want me to be your customer Natsu?"

Said pink haired guy looked sheepish as he thought about his next set of words. It was strange to witness Natsu be so nervous, after all he was her dumb idiot of a best friend who charged in with no filter to his thoughts or in fact she was pretty sure there was no thinking what so ever in him when it came to talking.

"Well, you're my best friend, and best friends are always there to help one another."

The rest of the group were positive that they could see the clogs stop in Lucy's brain as she was stumped for a reply, or in fact any human functions at all.

"I'm not exactly the best when it comes to fitness, Levy can vouch for me on that," Levy smirked, but nodded when Natsu looked over to her, "But, I suppose you're right; we're best friends, and best friends always help each other out no matter what the circumstance is."

* * *

A knowing look formed between Gray and Gajeel; it had been their idea to not only get their idiot friend and now colleague to start taking some classes, but to also become a personal trainer.

And there was one person that sprung to mind when it came to Natsu.

 _Lucy._

* * *

"Well, now that Natsu had finally announced his new era of his life, I think it's time for Lucy to announce hers," Levy smiled, causing her blonde friend to frown at her, she wasn't ready to announce her news yet.

She hadn't even prepared a speech.

She was fucked, and now her friends were looking at her, waiting.

"Thanks Levy," Lucy scowled at Levy who was practically beaming a large grin back, even Juvia had jumped on the shit eating grin boat.

Much to her delight.

Both her friends were horrible people.

But she loved them.

But she also hated them.

She sighed, there was no hope for her.

"I suppose it's only fair I tell you guys as well. You know my book I've been writing?" The three boys nodded, she couldn't help but allow a smile to filter its way on to her face as she continued, "Well, as of the last couple of weeks, I've found out that my book is being published!"

She was sure she could hear a cricket with the unresponsive trio of idiots.

* * *

Okay, so it wasn't the reaction she was expecting, but at least the boys could congratulate her or something instead of stating at her with blank expressions.

Like they had for the last _two minutes_.

If there wasn't liquid in her drink Lucy was sure she could throw it between the three of them.

"Juvia thinks it's wonderful!" Juvia cheered, nudging both Gray and Gajeel to at least make a sound.

"Yeah, I'm so excited, I'm going to make sure I have extra backup copies for the copies in my store," Levy laughed, causing Lucy to smile slightly.

Bless her two blunette friends.

She loved them more than ever.

It was Gray who finally registered what Lucy has just said and he quickly beamed a smile towards her, "Congrats Lucy, about time you finished that book," he winked.

Lucy rolled her eyes, were these idiots on a system reset or something?

She didn't dare think anymore on the subject. It would be more of a headache than anything to try and figure out those three.

"Bunny girl finally finished it then? I hope you've added me somewhere in that book,"

"Why would she add you of all people?" Levy questioned him, causing Gajeel's bubble to pop

"Why the fuck not? I would make an amazing character to any book," he quipped back, causing the girls to smirk to one another.

"An amazing character to kill off," Levy added to her teasing

"I'm sure you would make a nice minor character Gajeel," Lucy teased, Levy giggled.

"Gajeel would be that character who has little time in the book with a few speaking lines and then poof, no more," Levy added, causing herself to giggle once more. Gajeel on the other hand had grown tired of this game where he had turned in to the joke of the evening.

Levy noticed Gajeel lean over to her ear,

"Keep it up shrimp and you'll be regretting it on our next training day."

It was safe to say that Levy had quickly stopped her teasing, knowing full well how much hell Gajeel could put her through if she continued on the path she was on.

"Congrtats Luce," Natsu finally spoke, a soft smile embraced his face, "We're really growing up aren't we?" He joked, causing his blonde friend to raise a questionable eyebrow.

"Care to explain?"

"Well, I've got a job, and you're getting taking hold of that dream." A toothy grin was shown as Lucy began to smile brighter, she had completely forgot about becoming the greatest ever author; although right now she would settle for a best selling author, after all it was better than nothing.

"Okay, I can agree with that," she moved her glass over to his and clanged it against his,

"Cheers to our future."

She had to admit, the both of them were celebrating big changes in their lives at that moment in time.


	15. Chapter 15

Natsu was a fucking demon when it came to anything remotely fitness related.

And boy did Lucy know.

Not only had Natsu suggested she started immediately; following the day after their boozy celebration evening - which also turned in to more than its fair share of shots and extra glasses of cocktails.

Lucy was adamant that Mira was adding more than what was stated in the drinks.. The damn witch - a beautiful witch at that.

But it was more the fact that they were in the gym at 6:30am, when she had only reached four hours sleep by the time Natsu had barged through her house beaming his usual smile at her and dragging her to the gym.

In fact it was disturbing how awake the pink haired idiot was at that time in the morning.

She was pretty sure Natsu could give Erza a run for her money when it came to punishing the body; in fact she was almost wishing the said woman was here, and that in itself proved how much Natsu was pushing her to her limits.

Or in fact, her limit before she could taste the previous nights poison.

"Come on Luce, you can do better than that," Natsu encouraged; only for Lucy to frown at his being before muttering incoherent words to him.

* * *

An hour and a half later Lucy had experienced enough of Natsu being too perky at this time in the morning, especially as she was nursing the effects of her hangover slowly creeping in. She gave up and was currently collapsed on the floor wishing she was in her bed.

She never did understand how Natsu never had a hangover the next day; even if he had more than everyone else, there was no side effects to the previous night showing.

And she hated him for that.

He's hand was held out to her, as was his usual grin. "Come on Luce, as a reward I'll get breakfast."

Her thoughts quickly vanished at the mention of food, she was starving and right now she could kill for thirty-three pancakes, or a blueberry muffin. She wasn't picky.

"Sure, I'll take that offer, especially if you're the one paying." She smiled as Natsu helped her up on to her feet.

* * *

If Natsu was good at anything, it would be breakfast. The guy could spend a fortune on breakfast and still never be filled. Lucy had learnt that over the years of knowing him; and the fact he would visit her when he was hungry, bearing in mind it was due to knowing she would have something delicious stored in her fridge.

"I still don't understand as to where it all goes," she questioned as Natsu was currently on his third round of 'breakfast' in his home.

"Who knows?" He shrugged, struggling to not drop any crumbs on himself, although Lucy knew that was a battle within itself.

She rolled her eyes at him, before taking in a good look to Natsu's living arrangements. The place itself was quite spacious, in fact Lucy was pretty sure it was bigger than where she was living; there was also a little bay window near the dinning table which over looked the whole of Magnolia's beautiful town, not that she was jealous, not at all.

In fact, Natsu's home and hers shared both positive aspects; she had a bigger bathroom than him whilst his bathroom had enough room for a larger shower, not that she hated the idea of showers, but if there was a bathtub in the bathroom you were guaranteed to find Lucy having the time of her life.

Natsu's living room was also quite big compared to hers, although she never did mind that as it was a room that was hardly used unless she had visitors who randomly made their own way in to her home.

More importantly though, she had no idea how Natsu even afforded the place, as she never even heard of him mention the place he called home until now.

"Hey Natsu, how long have you had this place?"

Natsu didn't even look at her when he answered, "About two years, I got Gray to buy it for me, I gave him the money of course, but he said if I was ever coming back I should live somewhere that wasn't with him."

It was at that moment that Lucy's face fell, a mixture of anger, hurt and betrayal hit her all at once.

If Gray had bought the place two years ago it clearly meant that the raven haired guy had contact with Natsu; the countless times she had said how much of an idiot Natsu was and if he would ever show up again talks flooded her mind once again.

She felt the tears threatening to fall from her eyes, was her friendship with him meant so little to him?

Her eyebrows formed a hard frown as she looked at the pink haired dumbass in front of her, "Who else knew?" she asked, her tone catching Natsu off guard to the sudden change in his best friend.

"Huh?"

"Who else knew about you coming home?"

Natsu immediately went back through his brain to try and work out how on earth Lucy had become so enraged with him, the penny then dropped.

"Shit, Luce! Fuck! Gajeel and Gray were the only people who knew about me making a comeback here, no one else knew." Panic spread across his face like wild fire.

Natsu watched painfully as Lucy took in his words and held back the tears that so badly wanted to fall, he was an idiot and at that point welcomed the slap to his face that Lucy gave him out of hurt and anger before she made her way to his front door and slammed it behind her.

"Okay, I with out a doubt deserved that."

* * *

"Lucy? Are you okay?" the sweet sound of Mira's voice approached Lucy as she sat at the bar refusing to look at anyone but the spirit bottles that Mira kept behind the bar.

"I'm fine," she replied, still looking at the different coloured bottles. Mira sighed, it had been two hours since Lucy had turned up at the bar and the fact she hadn't ordered anything was truly strange, in fact Lucy being here before Cana was in itself strange.

"If you're sure, you know where I am," she replied, hoping that what ever was bothering her blonde friend would soon pass quickly.

* * *

"You are a fucking dumbass," Gajeel concluded after both himself and Gray were called over to Natsu's home after he had to explain that a possible blonde could be coming for their heads.

"I know, you don't have to tell me that now," Natsu frowned, although truth be told he felt more like the biggest dick in the whole of Magnolia right now, even more so than the two of his friends in front of him.

"You should have seen her face, I swear if looks could kill I wouldn't be talking to you guys right now."

"Good." Gray frowned. "I still don't know why you didn't just tell her, or you know _not_ involve us? That would have been a _great_ idea," Gray added, this was all he needed this morning, Natsu's drama and a lingering headache from the previous night.

Gajeel sighed, his folded arms tensed as he thought about something far worse than what was currently happening, "You know what the worst part is in all of shit for brains's drama is?"

Gray and Natsu looked at him "What?"

"The other girls are going to find out, and then who knows what is about to happen to _us_ , let alone Natsu."

The boys paled at the thought of girls ending their poor pathetic lives right in front of them. Especially if Erza would be involved, she had no mercy at all.

A shudder passed through each of them.

"I'll start looking at nice places for our graves, it's the least I can do." Natsu replied, his face still pale.

"You better put me in a decent spot dickhead," Gajeel frowned.

* * *

The bar was still quiet when Levy walked through the door that morning with Juvia in tow; both girls had witnessed the sights of both Gajeel and Gray swearing at what they could only guess was Natsu before hastily leaving their cosy beds that morning.

What had been stranger was Mira had phoned both them asking if Lucy was okay; and by the look of the blonde's face, she was far from it.

Lucy was still located in the same place she had been for the last couple of hours, an untouched drink beside her and a look from Mira that suggested it looked bad.

"Lu? Are you okay Lu?" Levy placed her hand on the blonde shoulder, there was no response. Levy turned and looked to Juvia for any help she could offer, to which Juvia shrugged her shoulders and tried calling Lucy's name again.

"Juvia and Levy are quite concerned over you Lucy, we can lend an ear or two if you wish?" Juvia spoke softly, hoping any form of response from Lucy would be at least a better sign that the silence that was currently welcoming them.

"When Mira said it looked bad I didn't think it was _this_ bad," Levy commented, before Juvia nodded.

"Natsu is an idiot."

Mira who had been close by with Levy and Juvia rose an eyebrow. Now it was common knowledge that Natsu wasn't the smartest tool in the shed most of the time, and she had always seen first hand how much everyone had to put up with the idiot at times - as well as his ideas and plans for social events - least she remembered the time he suggested they all go to a theme park, only for himself to throw up on every ride they went on.

"We all know that Lucy." Mira replied, now leaning on the bar beside the other girls.

Lucy's eyes were still focused on the shelves of bottles in front of her, "All that time he was travelling, he was still in contact with Gray and Gajeel."

There was little emotion in her words, she knew she should be crying or even be angry at this point. But the walk over to the only place she knew she would be able to be alone for a little while with the only white noise being Mira cleaning the bar had left her with dry eyes and a feeling of numbness.

"What do you mean Natsu was still talking to those two?" Levy asked, she was already feeling the bubbling nerves rising in her body; it was never a good feeling when Lucy was like this, nor was the feeling of Gajeel being in trouble, and for once it wasn't her mad at him.

Although she had a strong feeling she was about to be.

"Yes, Juvia is quite confused."

Lucy turned to look at the three girls before her, "Natsu was talking to them the whole time he was away. Gajeel and Gray knew exactly where Natsu was, they were even helping him to buy a place to live here whilst he was fucking travelling where ever the fuck he felt like with out even thinking for a second that maybe, just maybe I would have liked to have known he was okay?"

And there were the tears.

"They knew! They both knew and never once thought about pulling me aside and telling me! Not once!" The tears came thick and fast; she knew she looked even more of a mess from her sweaty gym closes and now with the tears streaming down her face.

Levy and Juvia held her as she cried louder, "The three of them are bastards!"

She felt both girls nod their heads on her head, "And yet we love them." Levy soothed.

* * *

Natsu sighed as he left Lucy's building; he knew she wouldn't go home straight away, or if she was inside she was refusing to make herself known.

He fucked up and boy did he know it. How did he go from having an enjoyable gym session with his best friend to then experiencing her distraught face as she found about his secret.

Well, secret was the understatement, and what was worse was he dragged both Gray's and Gajeel's names through the dirt with him; which would only mean that they would have to deal with the consequences that Juvia and Levy would put them through.

He felt horrible.

So horrible in fact that he had gone to the nearest flower shop that was opened and purchased half of the shop - of course Gajeel and Gray had told him it wasn't going to work, but none the less that didn't stop all three of them buying more flowers than ever to give to their respective partners.

Which was where Natsu was present. He sighed as he left the flowers by her front door with a note, which he knew was going to make it ten times worse and more than anything he knew he didn't deserve her friendship as of now.

And that hurt him the most.

* * *

"Mira it's 9:30 in the morning!" Levy commented, as the concoction of alcoholic liquids was placed on the table.

The smile that was on the platinum blonde's face was sickly sweet, "Oh I know, but I think we need it."

Mira the beautiful mother figure was probably right, which was why Lucy didn't even bother to say anything as she took a shot glass and downed it quickly.

"Maybe someone needs it more than the rest of you," Mira strained a smile.

* * *

By the early afternoon, Lucy had decided to head home, in fact she had the best idea ever to take a bath, curl up with a book and hide from the world for a long time, maybe even until her book was out.

A small smile formed on her face at the thought of a bubble bath, one where there was nothing but bubbles overflowing the bath, as well as a good book to accompany her.

That smile was quickly wiped off her face when she made it to her door, well more like she made it to her neighbour's door because somehow there seemed to be a whole fucking flower shop in front of hers.

It didn't take a genius to work out who on earth had done this. In fact Lucy was sure it was _him_.

She hated the pink haired bastard, but she loved him all the same.

She hated the fact her mouth curved upwards at the sight of the flowers, which were multicoloured and the mixture of smells was delightful, in fact it reminded her of her parent's garden.

She hated the fact that he had remembered what her favourite flowers were and had made sure that there was more of them than others, in fact she was sure there was at least five per bouquet.

She hated the fact that he had made her cry twice in one day.

But what she hated the most was the fact that she loved him with all her heart.

* * *

I'm actually in love with this chapter!

I'm also sorry it's been a while since I've updated, but it doesn't mean that I don't love reading all the reviews I get!

I'm so happy loads of you enjoy reading this, it makes me smile every time I see a message. So thank you!


	16. Chapter 16

Natsu had still heard nothing from Lucy. It had been over two weeks since she had walked out of his home; and more importantly felt like she had ended their friendship.

He had become unbearable to work with, especially as both Gray and Gajeel had given him looks of hatred; after all he had dragged them through his mess, and they were suffering with what ever Juvia and Levy had put them through.

He looked at his phone for the millionth time that afternoon; when ever he had a chance after training a customer he would dash to his phone to see if Lucy had given him any sign of hope that their friendship was reparable.

In fact he had done this constantly since the day he delivered a whole flower shop to her front door. He had at least expected something after that day, but there was no message apart from two angry faces, one from Levy and the other from Juvia.

"Can you fucking quit looking at your phone for one second?" Gray muttered as he was sat at his desk filling out paper work, not that he wanted to be in the same room as Natsu right now; but work had to be done.

Natsu frowned, but Gray was probably right, he had been clutching his phone and looking at the screen every second he had free to see if she had text him.

"I just thought—"

"Give her time." Gray interrupted, already tired of the same conversation with Natsu day in and day out; in fact he was jealous that Gajeel wasn't working today to pick up some of the Natsu slack.

"It's been a while since I've last seen her that's all. I just thought by now she would say something?" Natsu pouted.

It was true, he was pinning for the blonde. He had several times gone to her home in hoping to catch even a strand of blonde hair, but there was nothing.

He even went to Levy's bookshop in the hopes that she had hung around with the little book nerd and just forgot about time.

He was hoping that the note he had left her had helped ease some of the hatred towards him, but there had been nothing from that either.

There was one thing Natsu Dragneel was terrible at; being patient.

And yet, he knew he could nothing but wait until she reached out to him, after all she was hurting much more than he could ever know. He sighed, it wasn't like he wasn't ever going to tell her, heck he knew he should have just mentioned it to her all those years ago before he decided to get his ass on a flying tin to see the world.

He was an idiot.

"You'd be surprised how well she can hold on to a grudge. Heck, you're fucking welcome to take some of the brunt of Juvia right now if you fancy it?" Gray suggested, his face still stuck in a frown.

"That bad?"

"You don't know the half of it. I've been on the fucking sofa since your whole mess began."

Natsu couldn't help but smirk slightly; the fact that Gray was being punished just as much was amusing, but at the same time he was glad he didn't have that fate. But at the same time he wished that Lucy would at least put him through something else than this unbearable silent treatment.

"Explains you're attitude." Natsu smirked, causing Gray to almost burst a vein as he looked up at the smirking pink haired bastard.

* * *

"Have you spoken to Natsu at all?" Ezra asked as she and Lucy had taken a day to stop around Magnolia, of course avoiding a certain gym that was known to host a certain pink haired idiot.

"No." Lucy spoke, she admitted it had slowly turned in to harshness over the fact she hadn't even thanked him for the flowers, but that went against her nature at that moment to show him that she was fine with him.

She heard Erza sigh at her, "There have been times when I want to say something, but once I try and commit, I just end up leaving it."

"You know, I think it's been going on long enough now, it's been almost a month and don't you think he's suffered enough?" Erza spoke calmly, knowing it was a delicate subject; more to the point both her and Jellal were tired of playing the friends in the middle.

"Perhaps, but it hurts Erza. It's not just that he hid that from me, but the fact that Gray and Gajeel never once thought about breaking that secret and telling me. It's not just Natsu's fault, it's all three of them."

Erza nodded, understanding, but it didn't stop her from adding her wisdom "Maybe it's time to forgive, after all, I'm sure they've learnt their lesson. In fact I know both Gray and Gajeel are feeling just as miserable."

Lucy rose an eyebrow at the red haired beauty, "Oh?"

"Juvia has refused to sleep in the same bed as Gray, in fact she has given him the silent treatment and we both know that goes against her Gray bible," Erza smiled.

"And Gajeel has been especially cautious around Levy, in fact he's taken her to the book store out of town to allow her free roam to buy what ever she wants."

"I know for a fact all three of them are sorry." Erza added, watching Lucy's reaction carefully.

Lucy bit on to her lip, it was an old habit she had when thinking, and more than ever lately she had constantly been biting her lip.

"I know it's a hard task, but perhaps forgive rather than hold on to this painful grudge, after all, it's much better to live in the present than the past."

This was why Lucy loved Erza, she was the big sister figure she always needed in her life; of course Levy was her best friend as was Juvia but Erza was the older sister figure that Lucy loved.

And right now, this was why Lucy had always loved spending time with the red haired beauty, she would ooze wisdom from her being and pass it on to those who needed it the most.

"I love you, you know that right?" Lucy smiled as she looked over her shoulder to see Erza return the smile as well as a small blush.

"Strangely enough, I do know that." She blushed, "Now, let's go and get some cake, my stomach is telling me it needs cake."

Lucy giggled as she walked behind Erza who was on her cake hunt, "We had cake an hour ago,"

Erza looked behind her, "You forget dearest Lucy, it's always cake o'clock."

* * *

Natsu had slowly given up the idea that Lucy would ever send him any means of a sign of hope for him. The gym had become quiet with only a small trickle of gym members of all sizes entering and leaving the building, some had blonde hair, some didn't and yet none of them were Lucy.

His Lucy.

Just thinking about that term hurt a little, she wasn't his toy, nor was she his trophy. She was a human being just like him.

A beautiful human being none the less; a beautiful human being who at this moment in time hated him for all that he was worth.

A sigh escaped his lips. He really had fucked up.

"Natsu you pink haired bastard, get in here now!"

Natsu frowned at Gray who at that moment poked his head through the doorway to frown at him.

"What the fuck have I done now?"

"Just get your ass in here now."

Rolling his eyes Natsu did as he was told and followed the asshole he called a friend to the office.

"Please enlighten me as to what could be so important that you have to have my attention?" Natsu asked sarcastically, earning a scowl from Gray.

"Just look at your phone you dick."

There on his phone was a text message, not just any text message, a text message from the one person who he had thoroughly thought never wanted to acknowledge him again so long as he lived.

"Holy shit."

"I know, who knew she would even talk to you again?" Gray commented whilst Natsu continued to stare at the screen of his phone.

"Are you even going to read it?"

Natsu looked up from the phone, Gray always asked such stupid questions, and yet they called him stupid.

"What the fuck do you take me for? A twelve year old girl?"

"Of course," Gray smirked.

Natsu growled, although he couldn't work out why his fingers weren't opening the message, they were refusing to move.

Scowling, Natsu bit the bullet and opened the message.

 _I know this is a long ass overdue wait for a thank you, but thank you for the flowers._

 _Lucy x_

It was short, sweet and Natsu was glad that she had finally replied back to him, even though it was perhaps overdue; but he would never admit that to her after all it had taken this long for her to even say a thank you.

And even longer for him to even tell her about the secret he had kept all those years…

He couldn't help the next text that he seemed to have typed out of sheer happiness of her talking to him again

 _And I know this is well overdue, in fact over three years overdue. But I really am sorry from the bottom of my heart Luce._

 _Natsu x_

Who was he kidding? He _was_ acting like a twelve year old with the smile he had.

* * *

"You can stop your punishment now," Lucy spoke as she and the rest of the girls were seated in a cafe the next day.

It had been a tradition of sorts that Juvia, Levy, Erza and Lucy would all spend at least one day of each month with each other, wether it was evening or day. And it was even better that they didn't have to share a table with any of the boys in their lives, more to the point they didn't have to watch them scoff their faces with food with out even chewing.

"So you spoke to him?" Levy asked, already smiling. "Because I stopped Gajeel's punishment a week ago."

Juvia held a smile of her own, "Juvia only punished Gray because Lucy was upset with him, thus meaning Juvia should dish out her own punishment for her Gray hurting a friend."

Lucy rolled her eyes, of course her two best friends wouldn't be able to not be too cruel to their other halves, and only do it because they knew they would have been able to sneak in a little guilt trip on her behalf.

"You two are so cruel," Lucy chuckled.

"Well, I was angry with Gajeel, in fact he was more scared of you coming for his head then having to do all my biddings," Levy commented, Juvia nodded in agreement.

"Gray was the same around Juvia, he kept repeating that Lucy would have his head if he stepped out of line."

"Erza, did you have doing in this?" Lucy questioned the now quiet red head.

"None what so ever, in fact the three of them never once shuddered under my eye, only when ever your name was mentioned."

Lucy sighed, of course she could remember countless times Natsu had annoyed her, and thus lead to her deciding she would spend the rest of the week ignoring him to prove to him that she could and would in fact teach him a lesson never to annoy her again.

It never worked, but Natsu had always said he hated it when she was silent, in fact he had told her countless times he would rather have Erza's wrath than have to deal with hers.

It was probably the nicest and strangest compliment Lucy had ever received from him.

"It's probably because Lucy is the sweetest ever, thus upsetting the most cheeriest person ever is like feeding a gremlin at night. You don't ever want to do that." Erza suggested, Lucy had to hold back the giggle that was so desperate to fall out of her mouth.

"I have to admit though, I think Natsu suffered the worst in this." Levy admitted shyly, causing the other girls to look over to the petite girl.

"Gajeel told me that he was never not looking at his phone the whole time he was working, just in case you had text him, or even said anything to him. He said at one point him and Gray actually felt bad for him."

"Natsu must be feeling so bad right now," Juvia added, "But Juvia knows Lucy and Natsu will resolve the issue soon."

Lucy looked over to Erza who was in the middle of adding a fork loaded with cake in to her mouth, "I agree, Natsu looked miserable when ever I saw him."

"You three are not helping me here." Lucy frowned,

"We know, but maybe you should go and talk to him. Maybe hear his side and go by that. After all you two have such a long friendship; it would be a waste to let that go." Levy spoke.

"And I don't know if I could cope having to have two separate friend groups, it would make gatherings hard," Erza commented, still giving her full attention to her cake.

Lucy sighed, she knew they were right. Hell she knew they were most certainly right. But it was easier said than done. If both her and Natsu were to rebuild their friendship he was going to have to tell her everything, and as would she. She didn't even know if she was ready to open up that wound all over again.

"You'll be fine, Juvia knows you will." The blue haired woman smiled, tapping her leg against Lucy's.

"And if not, I shall take his head for you," Erza smiled evilly at the thought.

* * *

Lucy had no idea why she was doing this to herself. In fact she had no idea why she was standing outside Natsu's home when she could happily be curled up in her bed watching crime shows and being with her other friends, Ben and Jerry.

In fact that sounded like a better option than being stood in front of this door that was slowly building an anxiety attack with in her.

"Stupid Levy and her stupid plans." Lucy sighed as she replayed what her friend had suggested.

* * *

 _We need to meet up. As much as this little game of ours has been pleasurable, we need to sort some things out._

 _Lucy x_

"If it all goes up the shitter, send a blank text to one of us and we'll bust you out of there." Levy spoke once she had noticed Lucy finish her text.

"But what if I don't want to go?" Lucy asked, although regretting that decision as soon as she saw the evil smiles on Juvia, Erza and Levy's face.

"Well, then you wouldn't mind if we ran sacked your home for your chocolate hoard." Levy shrugged, a knowing smirk rose on to the bluenette's face.

"You wouldn't dare." The glint in her eye proved to Lucy that she was, in fact deadly serious on the matter.

 _Sure, I'm free tomorrow._

 _Natsu x_

* * *

Lucy sighed, guessing there was no way she would be allowed to back out now.

Lucy closed her eyes as she took a deep breath to calm her nerves; this was Natsu she was nervous about. Stupid pink haired Natsu who had a lot to talk to her about and she'd be damned if she was going to leave until she had every last drop of information.

Even if she had to Lucy-kick him to the face, she wasn't going to be satisfied until she had her answers.

Whilst she was building her confidence and self esteem up, she had failed to notice that the door had opened and Natsu stood there with a confused look on his face.

"Luce?"

"Oh fuck sticks!" She yelped. Typical of Natsu to have ninja skills in sneaking up on people.

"Are you okay?" He asked, although judging by the look on Lucy's face it suggested that perhaps that wasn't the best question to ask.

Sometimes he needed a filter process in his brain he swore.

"Stupid question, ignore it."

"I plan to." Lucy replied, "Can I come in?"

Natsu could feel his nerves escalate within him, this was perhaps a terrible feeling on par with the thought of transport; although just thinking how bad the transport thought was began to churn his stomach.

He motioned his arm inside as Lucy took the liberty of moving her feet inside. Being inside his home hadn't shifted the nerves, in fact she was sure they had rapidly increased.

She didn't want to be here, in fact she didn't want to be in the comfort of Natsu's home; but at the same time she missed the pink haired idiot, as much as she hated to admit it. Having a hatred for someone who she was so close to was out of character for her, she knew it was stupid to be building a pros and cons side to this, but when it came to Natsu Dragneel there was always that little part of her who, no matter what always had a soft spot for the idiot.

She frowned at herself, she couldn't think like that right now. Natsu had to explain everything to her, after all this _was_ his fault. And in fact the idiot had three years worth of explaining to do, perhaps even more?

"Start from the beginning and leave nothing out," Lucy looked over to him whilst she made herself comfortable.

Natsu gulped, she was sat staring at him with her soft brown eyes; one of the many weaknesses he had when it came to Lucy. The fact she could look at him and he could tell wether she was happy or sad.

Her eyes held uncertainty towards him, and it made him feel even worse about this whole ordeal. All he wanted was his Luce back, his best friend.

The one person who he could trust with his most treasured secrets and possessions. Hell, if the girl wanted a kidney he would ask her which one she wanted.

He was familiar with a happy, bubbly Lucy who would roll her eyes at his antics, who would always go on adventures with him. He wasn't familiar with this reserved Lucy, who gave him the saddest look with in her eyes towards him. In fact, he even noticed how little she smiled with in his presents.

She was hurt, and it was him who had taken that beautiful smile that could light the darkest of days.

He sat down in front of her, facing her so that he could give her every bit of attention he could muster.

"You deserve so much more than me as a best friend; and in fact I would totally understand after hearing this if you didn't want to be around me anymore. But please just listen. Make your judgement afterwards." He spoke softly, in fact he even noticed that she had turned to face him as well, listening to his every word.

Sighing, he looked her in the eyes, he supposed she at least deserved that respect.

"I was always planning to return back here, don't even think for one minute I would ever think about never thinking of this place as home; because I do, everyone we hang out with is practically family to me. In fact every one of us grew up together, I could never just ditch them like that. But once we all graduated I need a fresh sense of purpose; Gray and Gajeel had become gym partners and were even including me on their little plan,"

Lucy raised an eyebrow towards him, still respecting his choice on not voicing anything until she had heard everything he had to say.

"I know," Natsu began to show a small smile on his face, "It sounds like the most weirdest suggestion ever that I would work with pin head and Princess Elsa, but you'd be surprised how well we all get on; from time to time anyway." A sheepish smile had replaced the previous smile. "I turned them down, telling them I would take them back up on the offer when I came back from doing some 'me' time. You're probably wondering why of all the things in the world I would decide something like that?"

Lucy nodded, "But I know you're about to tell me, so curiosity will kill the cat, at least I hope it will."

Natsu chuckled, "Yeah. I've always lived in Magnolia, actually, that's a lie. I've lived else where, but that's not the point. The point is, there's a certain special place that I hold deep with in me. So deep that I would refuse to be anywhere close to the place. It brought back memories I was so sure I laid to rest, but after graduating they kept springing back and I knew that if I wanted to live peacefully with out having them pop up when I didn't want them to then I would have to go to that place."

Lucy watched Natsu battle with himself over what he was about to say next; it was almost painful to watch the normally hyperactive pink haired spring become serious and hold on to this humourless ambience for longer than three seconds.

"There used to be this once place that in the summer my dad would take me; in fact he called it our 'special' place because we could do what ever we wanted with out worrying about anyone judging us; heck not like it ever bothered us, but hey," he shrugged with a small smile.

"Anyway, dad had always said that if he ever passed away that if I ever needed guidance or wanted to just talk all I had to would visit our place and everything would be fine. And after graduation, I just wanted to be away from everyone, after seeing everyone cheerful and happy and knowing what you all wanted to do, I still had no clue. Yes I had a fall back, but you know? I wanted to do something for once that didn't involve having to deal with teachers, or any rule telling me I couldn't."

"I understand Natsu." Lucy mirrored his small smile from earlier, "But that—"

"Didn't say I was done story telling Heartfillia," Natsu chuckled, poking her in the arm to ease some of the built up tension.

Lucy pouted at the action, but allowed him to continue. After all, this was his only chance to let everything out in to the air, because she knew there would be too much for the table to take.

"Like I was _saying,_ I was going to go back there, just to let my head breathe for a bit maybe even dig around and see if there was anything worth taking with me. But I chickened out. The thought of even getting their made my stomach churn." A shudder ran over Natsu's body from the thought once again, "But you know what? That finally made me realise something. I had always relied on people travelling with me, or heck if it involved transport it was not happening. But I realised I had never explored the world on my own with out someone telling me where to go."

By now Lucy had already began to see what Natsu was trying to explain, her heart sank a little of her thoughts spiralling in to theories and such. "So you followed your feet?" She asked, knowing the answer already.

"Pretty much. It was fun. For a while at least." Natsu's face has slowly returned serious, his joyous smile vanished in a blink of an eye. "I feel really bad for what happened, I shouldn't have left you a shitty message in text, I should have dragged you with me kicking and screaming the whole way." Lucy sighed, a light dusting of pink forming on the apples of her cheeks.

"But that would have gone against everything I thought about. Travelling on your own is an experience in itself, and I know I'm a shitty best friend to do that to you. Did you know the whole time I was travelling Gray and Gajeel never once forgot to give me shit about never calling or messaging you after that day. Not once."

The blush vanished from Lucy as she held her breath, waiting for the moment she was probably going to never forget in her memory.

"So why did I never get a message? Do you know how much this hurts right now? Knowing full well two people you held close kept a secret so well from me that involved my best friend? Fuck, my best friend kept this so hush, hush so he didn't have to hurt me? That's what I'm upset about Natsu, not the fact you hid it from me, but the fact you didn't think of me as worthy to stay in contact with."

He gulped, she was looking so painfully hurt at him; he could even swear there was little tears beginning to swell in her eyes.

He was not about to chicken out.

She deserved this.

Erza would come running to claim his ass if he fucked this up.

Erza would come running to claim his ass either way…

He swallowed his nerves quickly before he even thought about running to the nearest exit. If anyone knew his weakness was Lucy Heartfillia and her eyes, he was done for.

Quickly establishing that she was still waiting for her answer, Natsu left forward and embraced her, not looking at her would be fine, he could do this.

"I missed you a fucking lot Lucy. If I had spoken to you in any format I would have instantly been on the first thing that got me to you the quickest. Being on my own allowed me to grow like you have as a writer, and don't think I'm not proud of you, I'm stupidly proud of your for reaching your dream."

He could feel a dampness on his shoulder, a small smile cracked on to his face knowing Lucy was not only listening but finally letting her emotions spill.

"Gray told me everything by the way." He felt her stiffen, "Knowing I was the cause for you being so broken hurt me a lot. I didn't want you to be like that. I thought if you forgot about me for a while you would be able to concentrate on your book, because I know for a fact I can be a bother."

She hiccuped from her crying and let a small giggle escape her, smiling Natsu carried on.

"I'm not blaming any of this on you by the way. I'd be a total dick of a best friend if I did that. None of this is your fault, it was just my way of thinking of 'hey what should we do now?' And I kind of got carried away for a few years."

Natsu kissed the side of Lucy's head, he had waited so long to able to unleash this shit storm of practically three years worth of built up thoughts. It was all a little too much to throw at the poor girl and he knew it. Hell, it was taking its toll on himself to keep talking about it.

"Three years to be precise Natsu," he heard her mumbled through his shirt.

"And now I'm here laying it all out for you to absorb and then tell me I'm a total idiot and thus proving to the world that you are the better half of this friendship."

Her giggle was like music to his ears by that point. He knew by this point he was going to have to add another pile of shit to the now already full table of memories.

"Being away for so long with out hearing your voice or telling me off for eating my weight in delicious food, which by the way, fucking _delicious_ food where I went. Either way Lucy, I missed you more and more as the days went on. There were days when I thought how selfish I was for not bringing you along with me. And then the other days I was thankful that I took the time to explore on my own, there's no better feeling than taking in something with out having someone tell you the historic fact about it or saying where to go. But being on your own did allow thoughts to flood my mind about you."

Lucy withdrew herself from the comfort of Natsu to look at him, her eyes she knew were a little red now from the crying, but judging by Natsu's look, he didn't care at all.

"You're my best friend. And I could never not go a day with out being around you. I'm a terrible person and the worst friend in the world that I allowed myself to be absorbed in to something that would later on have repercussions for our friendship. Either way I'm a dick, a bastard and complete and utter fucker of a best friend and truthfully I know I don't accept your forgiveness at all."

Lucy dried her eyes before she leaned over to him, her hand rose to his cheek to brush away a few small tears that has started to escape the ever so great Natsu Dragneel; she had to admit seeing him so venerable and open right now was so rare, but it meant a lot to her all the same.

"You're correct." Natsu's face fell before Lucy told him to look at her, "You are all those things Natsu, but I would never change you for the world. You wouldn't be the Natsu that I care and love—" she broke off her sentence quickly, a blush sparked to her face instantly replaced by panic.

Natsu raised an eyebrow towards her, "Did you just say—"

"NO!" She shouted back, "No! I didn't say anything! You heard nothing—" Her cheeks plastered with a red blaze upon them.

"Liar."

The stale atmosphere that was swirling around them before hand had vanished just like that; now returned the usual contentment that both had sorely missed.

Natsu held a smirk to his lips as he watched his blonde friend fumble around with her thoughts.

"Maybe I had said those things, but that doesn't mean I'm still not happy with you Natsu." Lucy looked up to him, her eyes shone with previous tears, and she was damn well sure she wasn't going to let anymore follow suite.

He leaned in, pulling her towards him as he allowed her to fully let her emotions run riot with her.

"You're a stupid idiot Natsu for making me feel like this," he nodded, agreeing with her for once, "You're lucky this isn't Erza you're dealing with, because she would happily take your life for me."

He shuddered, thinking about that happening with the pleased smirk Erza would wear as she took him to his gave was not how he wanted to be dying.

"But you're my Natsu, for fuck sake." He heard the smile in her voice as she looked up to him, "My stupid Natsu who i'm stupidly in love with."

He couldn't help the smile that followed suit after those words fell from her mouth, her oh so beautiful mouth. He leaned forward, brushing the tears that had escaped from her eyes as he pressed his mouth to hers to capture her lips in on of the most desperate and needed moments of their lives.

Pulling away, Natsu rested his forehead against hers "Would you be surprised to hear that I'm in love with me too?"

She laughed as she kissed him lightly on his lips, "You know? I'm not that surprised at all."


End file.
